Whatever Love Means
by N1kki1984
Summary: When Kate Roberts can't take any more of Jake Berkeley or her dull night-shift, she goes a bit mental; changing shifts, meeting a handsome OCD-CSI, hiding secrets and learning some things about herself along the way. Fluff, and copious amounts of drama!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

_**FLASHBACK:**_

_Kate Roberts fiddled nervously with her hands as she sat in the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car. The rain splashed on and off the windscreen repeatedly, creating a large box of noise around them. Kate wanted it to consume her, take her out of the car and away from Rob. She hadn't imagined that he would take too kindly to his impending fatherhood, but she hadn't expected him to rant and rave and yell at her, just like he was doing now. Robert Harper was glaring out of his window, angrily muttering to himself every now and then, stray strand of dark hair falling into his eyes, which he flicked away, just exactly in the same way as he was doing with Kate. The fact remained that they were too young to even think about kids; at sixteen, neither of them were wise enough to handle the responsibility. Kate let a tear roll from her eye as Rob started ranting again. _

_"What the Hell were you thinking, Kate? I'm too young for this!"_

_Kate bit her lip. "I know, Rob. I'm so sorry..." She wasn't rightly sure why she was apologizing for something that wasn't even her fault in the first place. After all, it takes two to tango. If she remembered correctly, it was Rob who instigated it in the first place. "We can work it out, though, I'm sure of it. It'll be fine."_

_Rob turned to her, look of serious rage etched on his face. "'We' can work this out? No, Kate. I don't want anything to do with this." He squinted at her, eyes almost shut with repulsion. "This is your mess. Get out of it yourself." He leaned over and opened the passenger door, and a few droplets of rain splashed onto Kate's face, adding to the moisture. Confused, she looked at him. Surely he wasn't that heartless?_

_"Rob...?" She blinked some tears away and Rob turned the ignition on. "Rob, you can't just leave me here-"_

_"Get out, Kate." His tone was final, and he'd scared her enough already tonight. She moved, hesitantly, out of the car and Rob pulled the door shut behind her before zooming off into the distance. Standing there, in the pouring rain, her face buried under a cascade of tears, Kate slowly lowered herself onto the ground, despair taking her over. _

_**END FLASHBACK!**_

Ten years later, Kate Roberts sat at her mirror, examining the photograph of her son, Matthew. The feeling of immense sadness swept over her, as it did every night, knowing she had to leave Matthew, knowing she was missing out on so much of his youth and now he was growing up so fast. Working the night shift took its toll on her life, yet she loved her job, and she found being a CSI so rewarding, getting justice for the people who couldn't do it themselves.

She ran her fingers through her shoulder length blonde hair as she walked into the lounge where her younger sister, Laura, was watching TV with Matthew. Kate sighed and watched in silence as the tears pricked her eyes. Laura was spending more time with Matthew than she was. She did everything, but make his dinner! She looked at her watch. "I'd better be heading out now, don't want to be late..."

Matthew promptly jumped up from his seat and launched himself at Kate. "Bye, Mom...I'll see you in the morning. Be careful!" She had to smile at him, he was so grown up for a ten year old. She crouched down to be on his level so she could give him a proper hug

"Don't worry, Matty, I'll be fine. How about I take you to school tomorrow?" At this, Matthew's smile grew even bigger.

"Yeah, and we could go early and stop for pancakes on the way?" He pleaded. It wasn't often that they managed to have breakfast together.

"Okay. That sounds great, I'll see you in the morning, Be good for Aunt Laura." Kate stood up and headed over to her sister . "I've left some money in the kitchen, treat yourselves to pizza...call me if you need anything." Laura smiled, it was the same conversation that they had every night. She knew Kate felt bad about leaving her son - her own flesh and blood - most, if not all, of the time.

"I know, I know! Everything'll be fine and yes, if I need anything I'll call you. And if that jerk keeps harassing you tell him he'll have me on his case"

Kate rolled her eyes at her sister. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." She waved the thought away as if it were nothing. "I've gotta go." She looked over to her son who had gone back to his spot on the sofa. "Bye, sweetie."

Matthew glanced across at his mother with a slight hint of sadness in his eyes. He didn't like the fact that he barely got to see her during the week. Or the weekend, for that matter, and when he did see her, he didn't like the fact that she was so exhausted. "Bye."

She headed out of the door and climbed into her car, wondering what tonight's shift was going to bring.

XOXOX

**Nikki A/N:This is my first story and I really want to thank JauntyChick for co-writing this with me, Things will get more interesting in the next few chapters and of course there will be lots of fluffyness along the way. Hope you enjoy, please R&R (It will make me and JC very happy) ****:D**

**Mary A/N:Hola! Okay, this is my first foray into co-writing, and I have to say, we're doing pretty well...we promise that Ryan's gonna make a wee appearance in the next chapter or two, and oh, yes, by, God - there will be oodles of fluffy moments to come...so, please R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Kate pulled up to her usual parking spot at Miami's crime lab; she looked into the rear view mirror in her car and rolled her eyes at what she saw: Jake Berkeley, the new night shift homicide detective. That was all she needed. The guy gave her the creeps. Kate got out of herblack Prius and locked the door, she tried to hurry past Jake so she wouldn't have to talk him, but he leapt out of his car as she passed him, causing her to jump. "Hi, Kate...how are you this evening?" She momentarily marvelled at the sheer amount of product in his hair, spiking it up.

"Oh, hey, Jake. I'm good, thanks." She was trying to avoid eye contact, or _any _sort of contact, for that matter. He locked his car and started to walk into the lab with her.

She was starting to get tired of the same old routine, Jake following her into work, constantly flirting with her. Why could he not get the hint that she wasn't interested in him? Kate didn't feel like she wanted a relationship right now, she had enough to think about what with trying to look after Matthew and she felt as though she couldn't even do that very well. Matthew, the one thing in her life that actually made her happy, was so energetic and full of life. Everybody said how much he looked like his mother, only with brown hair. She was glad people thought that instead of saying he must look like his father, that would just make the past even harder to shut out. She was snapped out her train of thought by the one voice she just wished would go away "You know, you should let me take you out for dinner, oh lets say, _tomorrow_...before shift?" Kate cringed at how desperate that sounded.

"Um, no thanks, I'm busy." Well she wasn't lying - she _would _be busy. Matthew was her top priority and she'd have to stay with him until Laura arrived. Jake didn't believe her though.

He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Oh, come on, you'll have fun and you _do _look like you need a bit of fun..." She was quite frankly gobsmacked at how pushy he was being, but going on a 'date' with Jake Berkeley wasn't on the top of her list of things to do.

"I've already told you...I'm _busy._" Kate shrugged Jake off - yet again - and headed into the locker room. She opened her locker and placed her jacket and handbag in it carelessly. She considered Jake for a moment, objectively. He was rude, abrasive, arrogant. And she was pretty sure she'd seen him out and about with a short, blonde woman sometime in the last week or two. She frowned and picked up a random black sweater and pulled it on. He was _not_ good father material, nor was he good romance material...She remembered Robert, how much she'd liked him at the time. Then again, she was young, she was still in school. Kate had been young, scrawny, self-conscious and Robert was tall, broad-backed and popular, almost overwhelming with confidence. He'd made the first move, walking her home one day after she'd had an argument with one of her friends. Things progressed and soon enough they ended up dating. Things got much more serious and then Kate became pregnant quite quick after that. And, after _that_, things fell out of shape completely, seemingly irrevocably, for a long time. Granted, Kate couldn't have been happier with Matthew, but she often wondered how her life would've turned out if she'd gone home early that night, played it cooler with Robert, been nonchalant. Her love life after him had just plummeted harshly to the ground. Laura had tried to set her up with a few guys that she knew, like Ted, a dowdy, gangly weakling of a man with a ton of money and zero personality. Then there was Bill, a strapping jock that just reminded her of Robert too much. And James. James didn't even have a category, or a genre. He just _was_, barely. None of these men survived past the first date, and Kate just gave up and focused on her child and her career. She closed her locker over and began walking to the lab, only to be halted once more by Jake. He had been lurking outside the door, hands in his jeans' pockets, smug grin on his face. Kate gasped at the first sight of him, loitering like he did, and then hurried to her destination. Of course, he followed her all the way there.

"Would it be so bad? Going on a date with this face?" Jake sidled closer to her, his arm grazing her arm slightly. She shuddered and moved away from him. Kate rolled her eyes. Yes, she decided, it would be so bad.

"Well, I don't know. Probably, from what I've heard the girls in the lab saying..." Kate smiled as the look of indignance crept over Jake's face. He cleared his throat. He knew exactly which girls they were, too, which only made him more determined.

"Pht, what would you listen to them for? They've got no sense of romance. Come on, Kate...just one date?" He took her by the shoulder, lips pouted, eyes droopy. Not even _that _could win Kate over. She felt nothing but disdain for Jake, and she showed this with a scowl and a shake of her head.

"Nope. Not on your life." She'd tried, in the beginning, just politely saying no, thinking he would stop. But then he kept asking, and recently, it had begun to annoy her. Now she just had to bite the bullet and be rude. She flashed him a smile and swanned into the lab. Kate couldn't help but feel pleased with herself, the look on Jake's face was priceless when she told him where to go and he certainly wasn't expecting that one.

XOXOX

The night was going slow, so Kate decided to head into the break room and grab a nice cup of coffee. She sat down and put her mug down on the table, she grabbed the newspaper that was in front of her and started to read. She had sat there for some time staring at the paper when she was startled by the sound of someone clearing their throat coming from behind her, Kate turned to see who it was. "Jake, I've already told you, I am not at _all _interested in going out with you." She spoke rather abruptly, and quite frankly she was getting sick of the sound of his voice _and_ the sight of his face.

He walked closer to her and replied. "Actually, no...not why I'm here. There's a DB at Palmer Lake." Jake handed her details of the case, Kate pushed past him and headed to the locker room where she picked up her kit and headed out to the Hummer. She arrived at the crime scene within fifteen minutes. When she approached the lake she caught a glimpse of what she would be dealing with; a short, young male face down in the water, with what looked like, in the rapidly fading light, brown hair. For a moment Kate felt like her heart was going to burst through her chest; she looked on as another member of the team pulled the boy out of the lake and rolled him over. She gazed at his face and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't her son, but it was someone else's and she would have to find out who.

XOXOX

The young male had been identified as Perry Tucker, a fifteen year old boy. He had been stabbed numerous times in the chest, and then dumped into Palmer Lake. Kate was oddly disturbed by the case. Even after seeing so much death in this job, she could still, occasionally, be found in the locker room, unable to talk with the sheer shock of how brutal and hateful people could be. She sighed and asked one of the lab-technicians to run some tests for her, and she headed off to check out the photographs. She was somewhat glad that she didn't have to have as many dealings with Jake on this case. She didn't think she would be able to handle him _and_ this case at the same time. His insensitivity would've been certain to get in the way. Perry's parents had been called down to the station a while ago, and Kate was meant to meet up with Jake to have a talk with them, ask them a few questions. Kate sighed, stuck in her thoughts. She shook her head at the pictures and frowned, deeply. The stab wounds were strangely placed, lazy, sloppy and downright wrong. It was as though the killer hadn't _wanted_ or _meant_ to do it, as perverse as that sounds. Just as she was about to investigate this theory deeper, her buzzer went off, and she foraged around in her pockets for a few seconds before whipping it out and checking the name. J Berkeley. She groaned and pulled her lab coat off, exiting the room in search of the aforementioned person. A few minutes later, she and Jake were sat at a table, opposite Neil and Dawn Tucker. Neil was a dark-haired man, eyebrows forehead creased in despair, clutching onto his wife's hand, willing the tears to stay away. Dawn was thin, auburn haired, very warm looking around the eye area. She looked very caring, very motherly. Well, Kate suspected that she would've been a very caring person, had she not been in the utter depths of sadness. She was clutching a tissue very tightly in her hand, eyes cast forward, staring intently at the door behind Kate.

"Can I get you anything, Mrs. Tucker?" Kate almost wished that she could get up from her seat and hug the woman. Dawn shook her head, wordlessly. Jake cleared his throat.

"Alright...do you two have any idea who would've done _this_ to your son?" He folded his arms and sat back in the seat. Neil shook his head and so did Dawn.

"No. He was a nice, sweet little guy." Dawn sighed, eyeing up the small, rag of paper between her fingers. "He played baseball on Wednesdays, and then he went over to his friend...uh, Chris's house and usually he stayed until dinner time." She wiped a tear from her eye, blankly gazing into the wall. "Last night, though, he called Neil and asked if he could stay the night. We said yes." Dawn's voice cracked, prompting Neil to squeeze her hand. He rubbed his eye and sighed.

"Did you know Chris before you let Perry stay the night?" Kate's voice was soft and soothing, hoping to bring _some_ comfort to the couple. Dawn nodded.

"We had him over for dinner one night. We knew all our son's friends." As Dawn said this, Jake almost scoffed. Kate nudged him and he quickly turned it into a cough. Jake was certain that no parents _ever_ knew _everything_ about their kids, and especially not everything about the company that they keep.

"Did he have a girlfriend?" Kate tilted her head to the side, studying both parents. They exchanged confused looks at each other before Neil asked the obvious question.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He frowned. Jake frowned at Kate. He, too, wondered what that had to do with anything. Kate didn't usually go off on one over a case, but she had a hunch.

"I was just curious." But she still wanted the question answered. Neil shook his head. He and his son had always been very close, and he was sure that Perry had told him everything.

"Not that I know about. H-he told me everything." And, if he didn't, there was a fair chance that Dawn already knew.

"Everything?" Jake intoned. Kate glared at him. He really had no business being there, in that room at that time. Kate would've preferred it that way. Neil nodded. He was really starting to annoy Jake. "Sir, teenagers can be sneaky. I mean, when I was that age, I had two girlfriends at the one time that my parents didn't have a clue about-"

"All due respect, Mr. Berkeley," Neil snapped. "You know nothing about our son or our life. He was an honest, smart kid that didn't hide numerous girls from us." He stood up, bringing Dawn with him. "Give us a call when you have some meaningful questions."

Kate stood up, restraining herself from slapping Jake. He'd gone and said too much, as per usual. "Wait, please." She threw her hands up in front of her and sighed. "I apologize for Detective Berkeley's behavior. But could you give us Chris's details please? We'd like to get in contact with him." Dawn gave Kate the details and then she and Neil left abruptly. Kate gave Jake another ice-cold death-ray before she fled the room.

As Kate headed towards the elevator she glanced over her shoulder only to find Jake powering towards her, shouting her name. She tried her best to ignore him and urged her legs to keep on walking, but at a speedier pace. "Kate...Kate!"

She stopped abruptly and yelled back at him, angrily. "What, Jake?" He closed the gap between the two of them, his face filled with anger.

"You apologize for _my_ behavior?" Jake folded his arms, the very epitome of aggression etched all over his body language. Kate rolled her eyes - how could he have the nerve to storm though the lab creating a scene and question _HER_ because of _HIS_ actions?

"Yes, you were out of line, Jake. Those people had just found out that their son was murdered...you could at least consider their feelings instead of being disrespectful to them." She found herself becoming extremely uncomfortable with this situation and the ever increasing audience they had acquired was only making things worse. Kate didn't like confrontations but with every word that came out of Jake's mouth she became more and more frustrated.

"I was simply trying to get answer from them, Kate. It's not like I stuck a piece of barbed wire in their eyes!" Jake couldn't believe Kate. She'd always been tetchy, but this was ridiculous. In his mind, she had no right to intervene on his interrogation. Women.

"Oho, I'm sure that was probably the next step!" Kate pressed the button on the elevator again, but harder this time. Jake stepped towards her again and so she pressed it two more times.

"You know, Kate, what is this really about?" Jake raised one eyebrow at her, menacingly. Kate frowned, not exactly sure about what he was getting at. "Is this because you have feelings for me?"

Kate opened her mouth in shock, attempting to say something scathing but only managing a scoff. "I have...feelings...for..." She shook her head, disbelieving her ears. "Maybe in your wildest dreams, Jake, but no. I haven't got a single feeling for you other than pure hatred." She pressed her finger once more into the arrow-like button. "And, another thing; come tomorrow morning, you don't speak to me. Ever. And I mean it, Jake. I'm transferring."

This news only enraged Jake even more. He moved closer to Kate and slammed the palm of his hand against the wall. "Damn it, Kate. Why do you have to be so melodramatic? Can't we just work things out?"

Kate put her hands on her hips, about to reply with a complete stinger of a comeback, but the elevator pinged at just the right moment, telling her that it wouldn't have been professional. "Well, we could...or you could bite me." Just as she was about to saunter into the elevator as if nothing had happened, trying to show Jake that she was the bigger person, Jake grabbed a hold of Kate's arm, violently. She winced at the pain and tried to free herself from his grip. "Jake! Get off me!" Suddenly, in a whirl-wind of emotions, Kate let him take her over for a second before she shoved him against the wall, trying to get away from him long enough to actually leave the building, but only adding to his rage.

"Will...you...stop...fighting...me!" Jake gripped her waist, not letting her get away easily. Kate widened her eyes in panic as his grip wasn't easing up.

"No, I will not! Get the hell away from me, Jake!" Once more, she was writhing away from him, pushing her hand against his chest. Suddenly, there was another arm attaching itself to her from behind. Oh, great, more people to argue with. "What the hell-" It was a tall, balding man with a severe frown, and a shorter, redhead that she knew as Horatio Caine. "Oh." Kate tried to compose herself as she moved further and further away from Jake, the rat.

"Is everything all right, ma'am?" Horatio Caine asked, head tilted to the side in its infamous manner. Frank Tripp stood next to him, almost like a referee between Kate and Jake.

"Yeah." Kate squeaked, glaring at Jake before she raised her eyebrows at Horatio. "Everything's fine. Thank you." With that, she began storming down the hall, bypassing a short, blonde woman with a heavy amount of shock on her face. Tomorrow, she was definitely transferring.

XOXOX

On her way out of the building, Kate had so many thoughts in her head that she couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate on where she was going or what her purpose was. She loathed Jake, and she never wanted to have the misfortune of working with him ever again. She pushed her phone into her handbag and sighed. Things had not been going her way at all lately, and this case wasn't helping.

Just as soon as her worries about Matthew entered her head, they were thrown out by a tall, dark-haired man bumping into her. Could this day have gotten any worse? She slapped her hand against her head and apologized profusely."I'm sorry! I wasn't looking, and-". She pulled her eyes up to the man; he was suited up in a frighteningly orange shirt, dark blue jeans and a grey suit jacket. "Sorry."

The man furrowed his brows in concern and tilted his head to the side. "No, no, you're, uh...it was my fault, really." He threw his hands up in the air, gazing innocently at Kate. "Are you okay?"

Kate nodded. "I'll live." Suddenly, there was an awkward silence, and Kate only just realised that she was standing there, identical to a statue. There was another man standing next to the Mayan-God-Esque guy, arms folded, glancing around, probably wishing that Kate would magically disappear. He seemed to be in a rush. Kate blushed and shook her head. "Anyway, I have to, uh..." She motioned to her car. "Bye."

The man nodded and watched as Kate sauntered over to her car, almost dropping her keys as she tried to prise open the door. He tilted his head, studying her carefully. The man standing beside him nudged him with a playful smirk, shaking his head.

XOXOX

**Mary A/N:**** Hola! Woot, two reviews already! Thank you **_**so**_** much, but, but, but, we're not updating unless we get...three reviews. Yes, three reviews would make us ecstatically happy, wouldn't it, Nikki!? Thanks again! **

**Nikki A/N:**** Yep, I'm with Mary on this one!! Lol!! But seriously, Thank You so much for reviewing and hope you liked the chapter. So please press our little friend Fred and make us really happy!! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

Kate cleared her throat and fixed herself in the overhead mirror of her car. Since the beginning of this case, all she could think about was Matthew. The boy in the lake was eerily similar to him, but she had managed to push those thoughts away completely as she sauntered into the front door of her house, greeted by her sister and Matthew each lying on separate sofas, almost asleep. Kate grinned and slammed the door behind her, alerting the two lethargic lumps to her presence. Matthew bounded up from the couch and engulfed her in a hug, which she quickly reciprocated.

"Hey, baby..." Kate pulled him tightly, swallowing away the lump that had just taken up residence in her throat. Matthew mumbled something into her shirt, something that she couldn't decipher. She only hugged him even tighter because of this. "Were you good for your auntie?"

"Oh, he was the best. We watched TV, we played chess...we had dinner...he crashed out at around ten, and now we've been up for approximately..." Laura checked her watch. "Twenty-three minutes and we're already ready for pancakes."

Kate smiled. "Nice. Did you brush your teeth?"

Matthew adopted a shocked expression, as if he had just been asked to defuse a large bomb. "Yep...are you ready?"

Kate glanced down at herself. She needed to change, and to pee...and to _sleep_. But, she would just have to without the latter for another while; after all, she had little enough time with the boy as is. "Gimme two minutes. _Then_ I'll be ready." So Kate rushed into her bedroom, quickly pulled on a white, flouncy shirt and a clean pair of jeans. She threw a pair of red flip-flops on and proceeded to the bathroom. She washed her face, re-brushed her teeth and then headed back out to the sitting room. "Okay, Laura...thanks again. Same time tomorrow?"

Laura frowned. "Actually, I'm just, uh; I'll crash here for a while if it's alright. Beauty sleep." She grinned and yawned, for added effect. After Kate nodded and said her goodbyes, she and Matthew drove off to a small pancake house and ordered some pancakes with maple syrup and a few extra things for afters. Matthew had chatted non-stop since they had buckled themselves into the car, and it almost made Kate's heart ache at the fact she rarely got to find out about these things before Laura did. However, she listened eagerly to him, savoring each little phrase, or comment.

"Hey, Mom?" Matthew asked, quietly, after a two-second silence.

"Yes, dear." Kate grinned.

"Do you think...I mean...are you working on Saturday?" Matthew glanced out of the window as he asked this, almost afraid to make eye-contact with Kate, should she turn him down. Kate put her fork down and swallowed the last piece of gooey syrup.

"No...shouldn't be, why?" He had never expressed a wish for her to be off on a Saturday before, so this was confusing for her. Matthew ran a small hand through his dark hair. Kate marveled at how quickly he was transforming into such a grown-up little man. And she hadn't even been there to notice.

"I was just thinkin' that maybe...you could come to my game. Unless you have to work." He quickly finished off his pancakes, sweeping his finger across a smudge of syrup on the plate before licking it off his finger.

Kate tried her best to fight off tears, but it wasn't any use. She wiped one away quickly before Matthew could notice. "Yeah." Her voice had cracked. "Of course I will."

Matthew grinned and bobbed his head from side to side. "Thanks, Mom! You're the greatest." Kate looked down at the last mouthful of pancake on her plate with disdain. She definitely wasn't anywhere near to being a great mother, but, after today, she would certainly try. She handed Matthew the rest of her pancake with a smile. Afterwards, Kate dropped Matthew off at school and allowed herself a moment outside of her house to let a few tears out. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind, waving her hands in front of her face to reassure herself that she'd be fine. She opened her door and walked back into her house, almost dropping onto the floor in exhaustion. Laura swanned in suddenly from the kitchen with a small bowl of cereal and sat down next to Kate.

"What's up?" She sighed. Growing up, Laura had always been the stronger of the two sisters, even though Kate was older, and had a child of her own. Laura was a comforter, and a major help to Kate, for which she was eternally grateful. Kate groaned.

"I'm a failure." Simply put.

Laura chuckled. "You're not a failure, Katie." Laura sat back in her seat and smooshed her spoon into the corn flakes. "Who put that psycho idea into your head?"

Kate shrugged. "I just...I'm not really having any luck at the moment. I hardly know my son, I'm exhausted and I hate my shift."

Laura put her spoon down and frowned. "Is it that Berkeley ass? If you want, I could always have a talk with him."

Kate laughed and shook her head. "Yes, and no, thanks. See, we're on this case, and the boy is just so..." She wondered if she should tell Laura about the striking resemblance to her son, but she let it go. "He's so young. And Jake...he's just such..."

"An ass?" Laura helpfully supplied. Kate nodded.

"Right. He just doesn't know when to stop."

"Is he _still_ flirting?"

"Yep. I keep telling him 'no', but. After this case, I'm transferring myself to day-shift." And that was how it all began. Kate contacted her boss, who contacted Horatio Caine, who instigated a meeting with her asap.

XOXOX

Kate sauntered into the break room of the Miami Dade Police Department, waiting patiently - or not, in her case - on Horatio Caine. She'd passed by him several times when she was finishing up and he was just starting with his team, but she hadn't paid too much attention to any of them. She had, however, been trying to avoid Jake. Oh, boy, he was not a happy bunny after yesterday's fiasco. But she didn't rightly care. She hated him, he repulsed her, and she had to move.

So what if his barely-there feelings get a teensy bit hurt. No more Mrs. Nice Kate. She shuffled along the floor for a few moments before she sat down. She watched as a few very business-like people, lead by a tall, redheaded man, sauntered off into the distance. Kate's mind only just registered that the redhead was none other than Horatio Caine. He glided into the room and cocked his head to the side.

"Miss Roberts?" His voice was deep, soulful.

"Mr. Caine." Kate said, soberly.

"I understand you wanted to see me..." Horatio furrowed his eyebrows, inquisitively. Kate nodded.

"Yes, actually...I was sort of hoping to change shifts. I've been having difficulties with a colleague-"

"Jake Berkeley, ma'am?" Horatio had already heard about this situation. Kate swallowed. It seemed everyone had been around to hear her screaming her guts out at him.It wasn't her fault that he was born an ignoramus.

"Yes sir, that's correct. But I've also heard so many good things about your team and I'd love to have the opportunity to be a part of that."

Horatio smiled as he removed his sunglasses, he always like to hear people praise his team "Well I'm glad to hear that, Miss Roberts. I have to take care of a few things right now, but you go home and get some rest and I will see you bright and early to introduce you to your new team."

Kate was taken aback by this; did it mean he was letting her transfer? Little did she know that Horatio had already seen her file and spoken to several members of the night shift that worked cases with her and all talked very highly of her abilities as a CSI. "Thank you sir, I look forward to meeting everybody" She was finding it extremely difficult to keep her composure as they both stood to leave the room, she turned to him with a smile "Bright and early sir." He nodded and walked to the door "Welcome to the team. Oh and Kate, please, call me Horatio" leaving Kate to get her head around what had just happened, for the first time in months she had actually left the lab with a smile on her face.

XOXOX

On her first day on the job, Kate was pretty thankful that she could help get Matthew ready and _then_ spend her evening with him, too. She pulled on a dark blue tank-top, light jeans and a pair of black wedges. She tried to keep her hands from disobeying her and shaking, but she was just too nervous. She sauntered into the lab and hung around reception for a few moments, until her new work-guardian came to find her.

"Kate Roberts?" A deep, nice voice. Kate turned on her heel to find...

The Mayan God. For an abrupt, brief second, Kate's mind took on a life of it's own, silently hoping that he was working with her, silently praying that he was just an officer, that he wouldn't have anything to do with her. On the other hand...

"Yeah, that's me." She cocked her head to her right shoulder, biting her lip in concentration. "Did Horatio Caine send you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm Ryan. Ryan Wolfe." Ryan Wolfe extended his very strong, very warm, soft hand out to her, and she accepted it graciously.

"Nice to meet you...again." Kate grinned and glanced down at the floor for a split-second. Ryan rubbed the space under his eye, nervously. Over the years, between his OCD and everything else, rubbing had just become something to do when he couldn't think on anything else. A bad habit, that's what it was.

"Oh, you remember that, huh? Yeah, I'm not exactly good with spacial awareness." With that, Ryan and Kate began to walk along the hall, jauntily. "So, you transferred from night shift, huh? Mind if I ask what happened?"

Kate raised an eyebrow at his pure abruptness. He had an interesting face, now that she studied him. Very open, very honest. _Amazing_ eyebrows. "Oh, well, the guy I was working with was kind of...an ass, really, but apart from that, I didn't really like the hours. Much more of an early bird."

Ryan nodded. They spoke comfortably to one another until they reached their destination. He held the door open for her, studying her from head to toe as she moved slowly, and gracefully, into the room. She was slender, with shoulder-length, blonde hair and a very bright smile. She was tall, long-legged and curvaceous in all the right places. Whoa. He could _not_work with those sort of thoughts twirling around in his head. He cleared his throat and folded his arms. "Uh, Kate Roberts, this is Calleigh Duquesne," Ryan pointed to a short, slim, blonde on the opposite side of the room wearing a white suit and cherry-red lipstick. She smiled and held a hand up. "And Eric Delko."

"Nice to meet you, Kate." The aforementioned Eric Delko walked up to Kate and took her hand in a firm grip. He was nice; cropped hair, large, bright eyes and an easy smile.

"Same to you guys." Kate pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. Usually she wasn't ever this nervous. "So, uh...where do I start, then?"

"Well, we should probably get to know each other." Calleigh smiled. "Where are you from?"

Kate smiled and placed her hand bag on the seat beside her as she perched herself on the arm-rest. "Chicago, but I moved here about nine years ago." Just after Matthew was born, she remembered. "Then I started studying forensics and then...I ended up on the nights shift for all these years. But I just couldn't hack it anymore, and here we are."

After Calleigh and Eric rambled on for a few moments about their very brief lives, Kate turned to Ryan, expecting him to begin explaining his history, but only finding him with his face firmly ensconced in a newspaper. Suddenly, as if right on cue, Eric's beeper went off, sending a shrill tone throughout the room. He pulled the machine out of his pocket and glanced up, flashing a billion-dollar smile in Kate's way. "Looks like we got a case."

Before Kate could even think of something witty to say, Horatio Caine calmly sauntered into the room and paused. "Calleigh, Eric, we have a DB in Flagler, I want you both to interrogate the witnesses. Mr. Wolfe, Miss Roberts, process the scene, please."

"Will do, H." Ryan hopped off his chair and grinned at Kate. "You ready, Roberts?"

Kate smiled and sighed. "I was born ready."

XOXOX

**Nikki A/N:****Hi peeps!! Okay now I really can't take much credit for chapter three because due to me working way too much I haven't had much chance to get much done so JC wrote most of this which I'd love to thank her for. Anyways, hope you all enjoy and thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far :D **

**Mary A/N:****Hola! Thanks **_**so**_**much for all the reviews! We really appreciate them all, and you rock, uberly, but we'd really like some more now, please... :D Okay, four reviews and we promise you fluff. Lots of it. Ryan fluff. Wow!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

When they arrived at the scene, Kate and Ryan had undergone _the_quietest car journey in the history of the world. Ryan didn't have a clue as to what he could say to Kate to make her feel welcome and Kate hadn't a notion about what she could say to Ryan without it sounding like a blatantly awful attempt at flirting. Which, of course, it wasn't...it was just her way of being friendly, which hadn't ever worked well for her in the first place. Kate got out of the car and grabbed the camera, nodding a friendly hello to Calleigh as she sauntered on by, into the house. Ryan followed behind her, vaguely aware that she had, quite possibly, the finest set of hips he'd ever seen. And that wasn't even _mentioning_ the legs...as he walked, he had become so engrossed with the gentle sway of Kate's lower half, he hadn't even noticed the large sofa directly in front of him.

"Whoa!" He stopped, about two centimeters away from bashing into it, and mentally thwacked himself over the head. Kate raised her eyebrows and turned round, smiling at him.

"Yeah, you might wanna watch yourself there, Ryan...houses _do_ tend to, uh...have the odd...little piece of...furniture, here and...there..." She trailed off half way through her sentence, kneeling down to a small puddle of blood that had distracted her. She placed a marker next to it and then took a quick photograph of it. Another fifteen minutes and she'd taken as many photos as she needed to, so she surveyed the rest of the house. Ryan tailed behind her, muttering things randomly. She barged into him twice by accident, almost stood on him quite a few times _and_ walked backwards into his chest. None of these times did the fact that he smelled really, _really_ nice go by her attention.

"Hey, Kate? Come here a second." Ryan called to her from the bathroom. She stood up from beside the victim's son's bed and frowned. She'd been on a roll, and Ryan Wolfe was nothing more than a mere distraction at that moment in time. _However, _she continued on in to the bathroom, finding Ryan with his arms folded, jauntily, his eyebrows furrowed, _glaring_ into the mirror. Kate waltzed over next to him and arched an eyebrow.

"Oh." She half-smiled. "That's a motive, right there." She pulled the camera up from her midriff, where it had been hanging, and irking her, from it's strap and snapped a quick photo of the offending mirror with the words, _'burn in hell'_ written in an angry shade of red lip-stick. The victim was a forty-one year old Caucasian male, found in the sitting room with a dagger protruding from his chest. He had a son, Jack, and a wife, Tracy, both of who were over-wrought with despair. Apparently.

Ryan nodded and picked something up from underfoot. "Yeah, now we just have to find out who belongs to the motive." It was the lip-stick - Mysterious Vixen was it's name, which Kate found both disturbing and ironic - , half-smooshed and _utterly_ disfigured. Kate nodded and headed back into the bedroom. Another two hours and they were done; so they packed everything up and nestled into the Hummer. They were both determined, though, that this journey wouldn't be half as quiet. "So...uh, tell me about yourself, Kate."

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Okay...I was born twenty-six years ago in Chicago...pretty sure you already know that...uh, I'm allergic to nuts, I can't stand romantic comedies, I kinda like exercise, which is odd, and I'm not _that_ bad of a cook, but I'm better at desserts than actual _real_ food." Oh, good Lord, she was rambling. Now that she had started talking, she couldn't stop. "I have a sister; Laura. She's younger than me, but she's just more...well-rounded, I guess. I was the head of the chess-squad when I was in high-school. And I rocked at math, but that has slipped away from me in recent years. I was a geek." Shut _up_, Kate!

"Oh." Ryan smirked. "Never had you down for a girl like that."

Kate swallowed. Ryan wouldn't have her down for quite a lot of things; like being a single mother of a ten year old boy. She cleared her throat; of course she would tell him, she would have to. But, selfishly, right now she was enjoying his attention. Was it _such_ a bad thing to like it when a very handsome guy asks you a question or two? No...not really, and it wasn't like they would get bundled together on every case. She hadn't ever told the night shift about Matthew, but only because that was purely work. Now she wanted friendship. Or...no. Just friendship. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Ryan. Not yet. What about you? What makes you tick?"

Ryan sighed. "Uh, I work...a lot. I have a dog, Molly...I don't go out much...pretty much keep to myself." God, he sounded dull. He wondered if he could lie, outright, and tell her that he was pretty much the head playboy of the MDPD or that he jetted off to Italy every couple of weeks on 'business'. No, he decided, the damage was done. She would, forever more, ignore him. Oh, well.

"Hm." Kate bit her lower lip. "You got a girlfriend?" She asked, almost like a tiger in the way that she pounced the question onto him. Uh-oh. That wasn't supposed to come out! At least...not like that! She shouldn't have said it...she should've just

left it at, 'hm'! Oh, why did she always have to screw everything up in such a gargantuan way?! She put a hand to her cheek. "I am _so_ sorry, I never meant for that to sound so abrupt!"

Ryan chuckled. He liked her directness. And he _loved_the fact that this was a chance to redeem himself in her mind. "That's okay...and no, I don't. Why? You offering?" Oh, that was too good to pass up. This only made Kate's already-burnt-crimson cheeks even redder. She laughed, nervously, but never replied, which Ryan also liked. It wasn't like she was in love with him, was it? She didn't even like him...much. So, he was nice. She knew lots of nice men. Mark, the older, funny owner of her local newsagents. Gary, the short owner of the DVD-rental store with the 'tache. Luke, the skinny blonde guy at the petrol station. Richard, the dark-haired smart guy that worked next to Laura. None of these guys affected her in the same way that Ryan did; she never stumbled over her words with them, not did her cheeks turn red every time they looked her squarely in the eyes. She hardly knew him. In fact, she hadn't even known him a whole day, yet. She knew nothing about him. Nothing! A few, very quiet, very peaceful moments later, Kate and Ryan drew up at the Miami Dade Police Department, giving Kate a decent chance to get Ryan Wolfe out of her head once they parted ways. After all, it wouldn't be too hard, considering that she didn't _like_ him.

She didn't. Really.

**XOXOX**

Ryan Wolfe folded his arms with a deep sigh as he leant against a random wall outside, but not too far away from, the lab. He had only been standing like that for a matter of seconds, in an innocent, non-stalker-ish way, watching Kate. Actually, when he thought about it, it was more like keeping an eye on the new girl, from afar, just in case she happened to make a mistake. Occasionally, she looked up from her work and bit her lip. Ryan's mind had been invaded with the same thought all day; why did he like her? All things were pointing to the fact that she was just a regular girl, working along side him, like Alexx, Calleigh...Valera. He'd never had an impure thought about any of them. Maybe an amused thought, definitely the odd concerned thought, but nothing..._bad_. Kate, however, he'd only known for a few hours, and already he was intrigued. She seemed nice, friendly, attractive and very capable in her job. He did not, however, like the fact that she managed to make him stutter, lose his concentration _and_make him stare at her. All day, Delko, Cooper, Valera, even Tripp had been asking _him_- God knows why - about Kate Roberts, the mystical enigma that she was. But he knew nothing. He'd seen her before, just in passing, but they worked completely different hours. He didn't particularly care for Jake Berkeley, so he tried to stay away from the night shift. Ian Larou, night shift DNA expert, was his arch-enemy, with his smugness and arrogance. Kate, he'd never noticed before, and it was tragic. He took a deep breath and started into the lab.

He would _definitely_ find something out about her, one way or another.

**XOXOX**

Kate leant over the microscope with a frown over her delicate features, hair falling into her eyes. She frowned even deeper and shook it out of the way. She needed a haircut, but it would have to wait until this white elephant of a case was out of her way. So far, there was a few random DNA samples, none of which matched anyone belonging to the victim. Kate sighed, heavily, and leant against the counter. There wasn't really anything else she could do. Just as she was about to pull her lab-coat off and get as far away as possible from the microscope as she could, Kate was halted by Ryan Wolfe, directly blocking her way out of the door.

"Oh, hey." He grinned, tapping his fingers against the case file in his hand. Kate smiled, awkwardly pulling her sleeve up over her hand like a teenager without any confidence. She hadn't noticed him lurking. Happy days.

"Hi. You got something for me?" She nodded to said case file. Ryan held it up, looking altogether too smug for Kate's liking. Smug, but pretty damn fine.

"Yes, I do. According to Sally, our vic's wife was having an affair with a guy she met on vacation in Hawaii."

"Oh." Kate nodded, conversationally. People had affairs all the time, probably even while she was thinking it. So why Ryan Wolfe looked so pleased was beyond her.

"Yeah, and, even better than that, his name...is Carla." He finally gave in, handing Kate the file with unbridled cockiness. Kate widened her eyes and grabbed the file from him as quickly as possible.

"Carla? Oh, my, God. He was a she...no..." Kate frowned, unable to take the confusion. She figured that it was simple, really, and it was just going up and over her head at that precise moment in time. "_She _was a...a he?"

Ryan chuckled. "No, he is now a...she..." He rubbed his index finger beneath his eye, eyebrows furrowed in discombobulation. "Yeah. I think you had it right the first time. Anyway, don't you ever watch those shows on the Discovery Channel?"

"I hardly have time for the Discovery Channel, thank you very much." Kate waved the thought off like a fly.

"Oh, really? Why? What do you do in your spare time?" Good. This gave him a good excuse to talk to her, and to flirt.

"My, God, you ask a lot of questions..." Kate shook her head, really not at all bothered by his inquisitiveness.

"You're new. And someone has to." Ryan folded his arms, grinning cockily. Kate rolled her eyes.

"Uh, okay...I..." She sighed. "Haven't really had a lot of spare time. Working nights, you know, it's tough. Wake up in the afternoon, hang out with, ah, the family," Okay, she wasn't excluding Matthew, she was just leaving him aside for the time being. She didn't want Ryan to collapse from the shock, or anything. "Make myself something to eat, have a shower, get ready-"

"So, you live to work?" Ryan stopped her, eyebrows raised.

Kate frowned, shaking her head. "No, of course not...but I am a bit of a workaholic. It would be nice to have some time to myself. I just don't get it very often."

"Okay, days off, then." He was determined, that was for sure. "There must be something..."

"Ha! I've had maybe...six or seven this year. And it's April, so..." She shrugged and placed her hands over her hips. "Anyway, what about you, Mr. Wolfe? And I wanna hear something juicy."

Ryan shook his head. "Maybe I'm more interested in you."

Kate let her hands fall to her sides before she folded them. _Why_ could she suddenly not stand still? "Well, there's nothing to be interested in, and I have work to do." She started walking towards Ryan, also attempting to tug off her lab-coat as she did. Ryan shifted, head tilted at her, a soft smile playing on his lips as he successfully blocked her exit from the lab. Kate arched her eyebrow and shook her head. "What are you, eight? I need to go, Ryan." She said, fully businesslike. Ryan squinted at her for a second, folded his arms and reluctantly moved out of her way. Kate tried to not let her disappointment show; that was too easy. "Thank you." She didn't move. She liked Ryan's very close proximity to her. It wasn't that she needed, or indeed wanted, any male attention, but this was really nice...really different. Really unprofessional! She took a step forwards, but stopped again, hands on her hips. "Anything else?"

As Ryan was about to open his mouth, the door behind him opened. "Kate?"

Kate glanced toward the door. Jake Berkeley. Ass! "Jake!" Her voice raised a few octaves as the look of sheer shock drained all colour out of her face. The whole reason she transferred to day-shift was standing not ten foot away from her. Of all the luck, this was just plain atrocious... "What are you doing here?"

Jake cast a suspicious glance over Ryan and then back at Kate, his eyes moving up and down her body. Jesus, she could start slapping him, easily, and never stop, effortlessly. Ryan felt a slight pang of annoyance as he shifted to look Kate directly in the eye. She glanced from him to Jake, and back again, apologetically. Jake stepped forward, not once looking near Ryan. Ass. "I, uh, need your assistance, expertise and whatever else you've got."

Kate swallowed. "What with?"

Jake finally glanced up at Ryan. He was _not_ comfortable. It was very evident, what with his constant shifting and shuffling from one foot to the other. "Well...ah...can we talk?" His gaze returned, menacingly, to Ryan. "Somewhere more secluded?"

Kate sighed and looked up at Ryan with a soft smile, her eyes definitely not leaving his. He had really nice eyes, which she hadn't noticed before. They were soft, kind, but slightly mischievous. "Sure we can, Jake. Just give me a second, will you?"

Jake swallowed, quietly hating Ryan. "Fine. I'll be outside. Don't be long."

As he shut the door behind him, Kate rolled her eyes at Jake. "He's a pig! Really." She rubbed her neck and shook her head. Ryan smiled down at her, unaware that she was secretly adoring him and every move that he made. She inwardly reminded herself not to be so stupid. "Anyway, I'd better go and see what he wants. Take it easy, okay?" Kate moved her hand up to his forearm and immediately regretted it. His eyes were on hers, watching her curiously, as she showed absolutely no sign of moving. This was bad. She didn't know why she'd done that. "Okay, so I'll see you." She quickly took her hand and regained her composure as she exited the room, leaving a very bemused Ryan Wolfe in her wake.

**XOXOX**

"What do you want, Jake?" Kate placed her hands on her hips, not a happy bunny. Jake raised his eyebrows and tilted her head.

"What, no warm welcome back, Kate?" He smirked. "And here, I was hoping for-"

"I know what you were hoping for, and you can just forget it. What's up?"

"You wake up on the wrong side of the bed, K? Or in someone else's bed and, maybe, just maybe, it didn't go directly as you planned?" He looked through the glass, directly at Ryan. Kate clenched her fists into balls and shoved them into her pockets.

"Jake. I'm busy." No lie. Never mind the fact that she _had_to get away from him and his utter toxicness!

"And I can't just drop by, socially? And he can?" He nodded to Ryan, who was hovering over the microscope, jauntily. Kate fought off a smile as he folded his arms. He seemed to do that a lot. And the eyebrows. She sighed, not unhappily, and glanced up at Jake.

"For your information, Mr. Wolfe happens to be very nice. And his intentions are _much_ better than yours. Now, either you tell me what's up or I'm gonna walk away."

Jake smiled, his hands roaming to the strap on Kate's shoulder, fidgeting with it, unnecessarily. Kate slapped his hand away and leant against the glass wall. "Okay, I want you back on the Perry Tucker case. I've got no leads, no suspects- nada. Larou said you'd had a thought about Perry's 'girlfriend', so I want you to see what you can do. Maybe after you've solved it, I can take you out somewhere fancy." He paused. "Or would Mr. Wolfe have a problem with it?"

Kate scowled at him and folded her arms. "Fine. I'll do it. But I want you to stay directly out of my way, let me do my own thing, and after that, we're finished. That includes you taking me out somewhere fancy, Mr. Berkeley."

Jake inhaled, sharply. "Ooh, Mr. Berkeley. Ouch." He put a mocking hand to his heart. "You kill me, Miss. Roberts. But I'll let it slide, just for you. So, you helping me out or not?"

Kate sighed heavily. Every cell in her body wanted to say no, to revolt against Jake...but she felt she had to do the case. Neil and Perry Tucker had been so distraught, so fragile. "Yeah, I'll do it."

Before she could stop him, Jake leant down to Kate, placed a hand on her waist and kissed her on the cheek, lingering for far too long. She pulled away from him and glared at him, thoroughly disgusted and repulsed. She shook her head and walked off.

She swore that this would be the last time she had to deal with Jake Berkeley. And this time, she would stick to it.

**XOXOX**

**Nikki A/N:**** Hi!! Again I have to give most, no more like all of the credit to Mary for this chapter because she's done all the hard work with it. Thank you everyone for your lovely reviews and thanks to everyone who added it to story alert. Sorry that you've had to wait for so long for an update but I promise that the next chapter will be up sooner. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please review. X**

**Mary A/N:****Hola! Thanks to everyone that reviewed, ya'll are amazing :D Sorry for the long wait...we will definitely update sooner with chapter five! Please leave a wee review and enjoy :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

Kate had almost cracked the case, without even an iota of help from Jake. It was pretty easy, actually. It turned out that Perry Tucker did have a girlfriend, Lisa Jackson, a sullen girl of fifteen and a half that definitely fell into the category of 'the wrong type of girl'. They'd been going out for two months and almost everyone that Kate questioned hadn't had anything good to say about her. She was a harpy, spoiled, immature, constantly calling and texting Perry. Kate sauntered along the corridor, reading through statements made from a bunch of Perry's friends, developing her own personal theory, when she was abruptly stopped by Ryan.

"Oh, hey! How's our case?" Kate smiled, folding her arms, gracefully. Ryan was slightly captivated by the way she let her tongue rub up against her upper lip and the way she carefully rubbed her left forearm with her right hand and how her hair bounced as she walked. Jesus, it was killing him, and he's only known her for, practically, a few hours. How could someone ever be as elegant as her? Did it come naturally or was it learnt? She walked lethargically, her legs rubbing together nicely, and her arms were long, slender, _perfect_.

He cleared his throat, annoyed at himself for being so damn distracted. He was never carried away by thoughts if he was on a case. _Never_. "Yeah, it's great. Tripp's bringing Carla in as we speak. How's, uh, _Jake_'s case?" He wasn't peeved. He was not. Nor was he jealous. Much.

"Great. I suspect, and this is just a hunch, that it's Perry's girlfriend. They can be sneaky, you know. Teenagers, I mean." Kate motioned for Ryan to walk with her, and he did. "Uh, about earlier, by the way, I'm sorry about Detective Berkeley. He's a bit of...delinquent, really. Now you see why I transferred."

"Yeah, I have a rough idea." Ryan smirked. "And...about earlier, you never told me if you were busy on Saturday..." He was far too full-on. He should've given her more time to settle in.

Kate swallowed. "Yeah, I just remembered...I'm supposed to be helping my sister with something. If not, I might get called in...so yeah, sorry." Better to be safe than sorry. Did she really want to complicate things for Matthew? No, not really.

Ryan nodded. She hated him. That was it. That _had_ to be it. But, he was a man. He would live. He would get over it...in time! "Yeah, that's fine. I've probably got stuff to do...too..." For the second time in the space of a minute and a half, Ryan cleared his throat. "So, I'll see you later. Good luck with your case." He started off towards the exit.

"Yeah, thank you, Ryan." Kate called after him, disappointment rising and falling in her chest. "You, too." She sighed, pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and went back on her un-merry way to the interrogation room.

**XOXOX**

Kate sat down in front of Lisa Jackson, a short, skinny-as-a-rake girl with mousy features and a definite attitude. She didn't seem to _do_eye contact, and she chewed with her mouth open. Kate almost wished that Matthew could stay at ten - maybe even eleven, twelve was pushing it - just so as he wouldn't have to deal with girls. Especially girls like this. Gah.

"So, Lisa, when was the last time you saw Perry?" She asked, blue eyes boring into Lisa's green ones, which were, oddly, darting around at a very high speed.

Lisa shrugged, placing a fresh stick of gum onto the centre of her tongue. "Don't know." She announced, sullenly.

Oh, _great_. A sarcastic, caustic teen. Just what Kate wanted to deal with. Not. Well, two could easily play at the curt, snappy game. She should've just gotten all the facts and handed the case back to Jake. Ass. "Well, didn't you go out with him on the night of his death? I mean, according to..." Kate thumbed the statements, silently loathing the rudeness of the kid in front of her. Jeez, was here anything wrong about chewing with your mouth _closed_? "According to Vanessa, you and Perry went out for dinner."

"I would hardly call it dinner. It was a burger and fries, downed in five minutes outside his friend's house, then we had a walk, made out, he felt me up, I walked home. Haven't seen him since. We're not serious. I'm just for practice." Lisa extended the gum out over her tongue, probably attempting to turn it into a bubble. Kate inwardly groaned.

"Uh-huh. According to Gabby, you guys were pretty serious. You called him...seventeen times in one night. I got his phone records. Sixteen times, you left voice messages." Kate took a deep breath. "You guys had a fight, I guess, and he was being a typical male. Stubborn. You didn't like it." Judging by the look on Lisa's face, Kate had hit all the right nails on the head. "So, you called Chris, a mutual friend, and he told you where Perry was. You liked him, a lot, and you wanted him to like you in the same way...but he didn't, did he?" Kate hated every nanosecond of each interrogation. They were repulsive, truly, trying to beat information out of someone that was obviously hiding something, lying through their back teeth.

Lisa scoffed. "Like you would know anything about _relationships_."

"As a matter of fact, I've got a good few years on you, Miss Jackson, so kindly don't take that route, alright?" Kate sighed. "So...you went down to Palmer Lake, and you found Perry...obviously, he wanted some space, told you where to go, and you didn't like that, either. So you told _him_ where to go. With a knife."

Lisa's speedy-eyes settled on Kate's, maliciously. "Look, what happened to Perry was his own fault. It had _nothing_ to do with me. I was coming down with the flu." She coughed, to add effect. Kate raised her eyebrow.

"Miss Jackson, have you ever taken recreational drugs?" It was a hunch. Kate constantly operated on hunches.

Lisa widened her eyes. "What? N-no way! Who told you that? Was it Carrie? 'Cause she's high all the time, never mind me..." Lisa's attitude seemed to change; she suddenly became edgy, vulnerable. Kate swallowed. She didn't look at all well. Panic rose in Kate's chest. What if she'd gone too far?

"Alright, I was only asking. It's just that your pupils are kinda...funky. Do you want some water?"

"No! I want to get the Hell out of here. I don't have to listen to you." Lisa stood up, her hand flying up to her forehead. There were two officers in the room with her and Kate, just in case anything went badly wrong. This was looking very much like on of those really bad times. Suddenly, Lisa bent over next to the table and propped herself up with her hands, her head drooping down, eerily. Kate had always hated when people jerked their limbs around, like that girl from The Ring coming out of the well and snapping her head to the side. Eugh. "Perry had it coming to him!"

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Perry had what coming to him?"

Lisa's head snapped up again, her eyes seeming to bulge with severe rage. Kate swallowed, fighting the urge to stand up and take a few steps back. "Me."

"So, you're saying that it was you that killed him? Why...why would you do that?"

There was a long, heavy sigh of indigence. "Because. He was too busy hanging out with his parents, rather than me." Lisa half-smirked. "Wouldn't you want to pay someone back for forgetting all about you?"

Kate frowned, deeply. She was pretty decent at keeping her friends close, actually, and she was pretty pleased that she knew a lot of the mothers at the school Matthew went to. Parent/Teacher meetings were actually fun, once you got into them. Oh, mandear, she had to get out more. "No, I wouldn't." Kate gathered her papers together and cleared her throat. "Take her away, officers."

The two men in uniform moved over to Lisa, placed the cuffs around her wrist and led her out of the room, her eyes welling up with tears, assuring Kate that she'd taken the knife for protection. Kate sighed and leant back in her chair, noting the melancholic air in the room.

Coffee. Coffee would cure it.

**XOXOX**

As she sauntered into the break room, Kate tried desperately not to let her emotions get the better of her. She'd hated the case with Jake right from the very beginning. Now, thanks to one girl's rage and immaturity, a family had been completely broken up for no reason other than Perry hadn't answered his phone. Perry's parents hadn't even been aware that he'd had a girlfriend, and now this. Kate sighed and leaned over the counter as she waited on the coffee to filter through. Sometimes she hated her job. Sometimes the cases were too much for a solitary person to go through. Never, in her time on the night-shift, would she have thought to go to Jake and tell him her thoughts. She would've been met with a confused, vacant look and a derogatory remark. Already, Horatio Caine was looking up as a supervisor. He'd been to see her several times on her first day, asking her how she was doing, reminding her that if she needed help with whatever she was doing, just ask him and he would get someone for her. He was fantastic. Delko seemed great, Calleigh was lovely and everyone else were really hospitable.

"Hey." Ryan Wolfe sidled up next to her and grabbed a cup from in front of her. Kate stood up, sharply and smiled at him, a watery sort of smile, not really enthusiastic at all. Ryan frowned for a second as he placed three sugars into his cup. "You okay, Kate?" Kate nodded, silently. Ryan fought back a smile. "Really...? Cause, uh, you don't look too happy."

"I'm fine." She sighed, eyes watering rapidly. She wished the coffee would brew a little bit faster, just so as she could escape. She didn't want Ryan, or anyone else for that matter, to see her walls coming down, the tears pouring out of her eyes.

Ryan glanced down at the cup in his hand and then back at Kate. "Hey...talk to me."

Kate blinked, swallowed and then stood up straight. "I don't have to talk. I just...the case was..." She shook her head at herself and wiped her eyes. "Sorry, I don't usually cry. Ever."

Ryan nodded. "Me, neither. Ever." Kate smiled. Ryan poured the coffee into her cup and then into his own before he fumbled around for the milk. "Was it the girlfriend?"

"Yeah. They'd had an argument, she was on drugs, jealous and she had plenty of access to a knife...turns out, her dad's a chef in a five-star restaurant. _And_ she all but confessed." And the victim happened to look a lot like Matthew, she silently added. "But I'm fine. Gonna go home, take a bath, watch a DVD, go to sleep. And I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you."

"Ah, it's fine. We solved it, anyway. Carla did it. He, she, it is spending the next twenty five years or so locked up. And so's the wife, coincidentally. She wanted him out of the way."

"And Carla was more than happy to help. People." She shook her head, growing more annoyed by the second.

"Come on, sit down. I'm off the clock." Ryan motioned to the large, cosy-looking chair on the other side of the room. Kate followed him over to the sofa and flopped down beside him. "Tough case?"

Kate frowned, intensely. "Mmhm...yeah. I just want to forget about it, if that's okay."

Ryan nodded and glanced down at the cup of coffee in his hands. "How long have you been a CSI?"

"Eleven and a half months. I used to do some technician stuff, maybe a year, but I couldn't stick looking at four walls and a bunch of microscopes, and GCMS machines all day, every day. So I branched out. Don't get me wrong, I love it. I love helping people, getting justice for the little guy, but...it's hard." She sighed. "You ever get a case..." She stopped herself and wiped her left eye, which always seemed to hold far more tears than the right eye. "Nah, nevermind. It's nothing."

"No, go on, tell me." Ryan shifted in his seat, eyebrows furrowed gently. He was concerned now. He hated it when girls started crying.

Kate felt like a total idiot. But, on the other hand, this could be helpful if she was going to tell him about Matthew. "Have you ever had a case where...the victim has this," She inhaled, aware that she sounded like a crazed lunatic. "Strange resemblance to a family member that you can't get over?"

Ryan arched an eyebrow, swallowing a mouthful of really bad coffee. "Uh, no. Can't say I have. But, Kate, it wasn't a family member. You remember that."

Kate smiled, feebly. "Yeah, I know that. But it could've been-"

"Yeah, but you can't ever let yourself think that." Ryan continued. He was starting to sound philosophical now, and there was no stopping him. "You just have to do your job, focus, listen to the evidence and do your job to your best abilities." He sighed. "Then you go home, relax, try to forget about it. You do what you can." He could talk. He had been a CSI for a year and a half. He wasn't really in a position to give advice. But he had to say _something_.

Kate's mouth twisted into a large smile. "Thank you, Ryan." She took a generous swig of her coffee and then examined the cup. "You're very insightful."

Ryan grinned. "Oh, thanks, you think?"

Kate laughed. "Yeah, I do. You're like Gandalf or Yoda, but better looking." She did _not_ say that he was better looking than Yoda. This was bad.

"And Princess Leah's got nothing on you, if you ask me anything..." Ryan stood up and finished off the last of his coffee, just so as he would have something to do. Kate blushed to herself, cradling the cup between her hands with a certain quality of contentedness. Oh, she definitely wanted to ask him. She could've thought on tons of things to ask him, but she didn't. Eventually, she stood up and smiled.

"Thank you for the coffee."

"No problem. Uh, I gotta go, but...I'll see you tomorrow." Ryan started off for the door, slightly reluctant to leave Kate on her own. "If you ever wanna talk again..."

"I know where to go." She grinned to herself. With a nod and a smile, Ryan quickly fled the room and walked down the corridor, leaving Kate with a feeling that she hadn't ever experienced for a human being of the opposite gender; butterflies, in a very awkward place.

This was worse than bad; it was awful.

**XOXOX**

Katesighed, contentedly and cracked open an eye. She rolled onto her side and blinked the lethargy out of her eyes before she began stretching and yawned, eyeing up the angry, red numbers on her clock. She groaned, her mind registering that she was definitely going to be late for work at this rate. She sat up and rubbed her eyes again, highly irked that the fuzziness didn't seem to dissipate. Her room was a mess; she needed to vacuum, fold things, put things in the wash...and, because she'd decided she would turn a new leaf, she would start on it immediately. She sprung out of bed - for sprung, read wearily shuffled up and over the side of it, her feet barely making it securely onto the floor -, sauntered down the corridor and into the kitchen. Saturday was usually her day off; but this was a new shift, this was strange. She flicked the kettle on and opened the cupboard underneath it; cereal. That would wake her up. She picked out two large bowls and poured the cereal into them before she stretched out. She had to go into work and do some paperwork, but that wouldn't take too long. As the kettle boiled, Kate marveled at the fact that she no longer had to work with Jake Berkeley. Joy of joys!

"Mom." Matthew was stood at the door, one hand up to his eye, the other on his hip. He was a small kid, always had been, with unnerving brown eyes like his mother and a freckle right under his left eye. Thankfully, aside from the dark hair, he had none of Rob's traits. Matthew was kind, smart and responsible...if a bit of a worrier.

"Hey, Matty." Kate grinned. "How you doing?"

"I'm good...why are you not at work?" He had a severe look of confusion across his features. Kate laughed.

"Cause I don't have to go in til later on. Don't you have a game today?" She raised her eyebrows, carton of milk in hand, ready to be poured over the very unappetising-looking cereal.

"Yeah..." There was silence, and then Matthew suddenly remembered the other day at the pancake shop. "Oh, Mom! You rock!" He rushed up to her and threw his arms around her. Kate placed a hand on his back and smiled. "So...can I come with you to work?"

"Uhh...well, I'll only be there for an hour, so I might just leave you with your aunt Laura..." She really would've rather she had a chance to tell everyone - Ryan - about Matthew before they met him. "But maybe next week, okay?"

Matthew nodded, eagerly. "Cool. Uhh, Mom?"

"Yes, Matt?"

"That cereal's five weeks old."

"Oh. And we never threw it out?" Kate wrinkled her nose.

Matthew shrugged. "Never got around to it."

"Hm. Well, we're gonna change things, just a little bit, around here...starting from, uh," Kate retrieved the box of cereal and flung the contents of each bowl back into it. She sauntered over to the pedal bin and opened it before flinging the large, cardboard box into it. "Right now. And we're starting with the cereal. And, that, my boy, is all it takes." She was off on one...completely. Matthew hadn't a notion what she was talking about. He was just glad she was there.

Matthew smiled and nodded. "Okay. But, Mom?"

"Yes, dear?" Kate stretched out and placed her hands on her hips.

"We haven't got any cereal left."

**XOXOX**

**Nikki A/N: ****Hi!! Thank you so much for the amazing reviews, I'm seriously impressed with them all!! I hope you all enjoy the chapter and please review, it'll make us really happy!! :)**

**Mary A/N:****Hola! Wowza! Sixteen reviews, and only four chapters...amazing. Thank you SO much, and I hope you enjoy this chapter and keep on reviewing! I'm actually really fond of this chapter...especially the cereal bit for some reason. I'm really liking Weetabix minis this weather, with raisins and nuts. Yum! Anywho...Take it easy :D **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Kate grabbed her bag and keys, checking herself over in the mirror. She had dressed in a black pair of tight trousers, a plain, blue tee shirt with a checked pattern and a grey cardigan. She looked good, even if she had to say so herself. Recently, she'd begun to look a lot healthier, far more like her old self. After she'd had Matthew, she'd begun to lose a lot of weight from being thrown into such turmoil, but now she had no excuse. "Come on, honey, we're gonna be late." She looked at her watch as she called up to her son. They were supposed to be meeting Laura at eleven thirty and it was now twenty past. She was really looking forward to spending the day with her son, as it wasn't often that they got chance to spend more than a couple of hours together but now after changing her shift she was hoping that would a change. Now, though, she could feel herself becoming more and more nervy and on edge, almost as if she were about to be called in. It was a horrible feeling.

One that _almost _dissipated entirely as Matthew bounded down the stairs towards his mother, giant bag of soccer gear in hand. The bag was _nearly _as big as he was. "Okay, mom, all ready. Lets go!"

Kate grinned, ushering him out the door and into the car as quickly as she could.

**XOXOX**

As soon as they sat down, Laura began interrogating Kate. They hadn't had a proper girly chat for a long time, since Kate was always too tired or Laura was long since asleep. Now, though, they were both awake and alert...and not actually paying complete attention to Matthew. Kate folded her arms as she sat back, flinging her hair over her shoulder. She made a quick mental note to get a haircut at some point in the near future.

"So, how's work?" Laura quickly took off her jacket, revealing a scarily-red shirt, leant in beside Kate and propped herself up with her hand, watching Matthew intently. Kate glanced quickly at her before turning back to all the small boys on the field. How was she supposed to know what one Matthew was? Oh, there he was. He had to be about six inches taller and far skinnier than the rest of them.

"It's great. Same as ever, except now I, uh, actually get to sleep, which is a bonus..." Kate tilted her head as Matthew kicked the ball to the wrong end of the pitch. She surreptitiously glanced over at Laura and poked her on the arm. "Is he supposed to do that?"

Laura pursed her lips together and swallowed. "Uh...no. But he looks adorable, though."

"This is true." Kate smiled. "I'm just glad...that I, ah, get to spend time with...ooh...him - now, that can't have been good, right?" She wrinkled her nose, almost afraid to look as Matthew got mauled by a large, redheaded kid that had no sense of spacial awareness.

"Oh, no, that _was_ awful." Laura took a sip of her drink, eyeing up exactly how far away Matthew was from the goal post. This was not a good situation.

"Oh, man." Kate frowned. "Maybe he'll get better." She quickly checked her watch, all the time hoping and praying to herself that he would. There was an hour to go. There was a silence as she and Laura exchanged a sympathetic glance. And then there was silence, save for the giant crowd around them. "So, are _you_ thinking on getting a job?"

Laura scoffed. "Honey, between babysitting and Kevin and his family, I've got no time for work. That _is_ my work!" She shook her head. "But I'm thinking about it. Maybe a reception job, or something."

Kate grinned. "Good. I'm glad. And it's about damn time." This was met with a large nudge. "Ow!"

After a few moments, Matthew finally scored himself a goal. The entire section in front of Kate stood up and began roaring, throwing themselves at each other and clapping. Kate clapped frantically and then heaved a sigh of utter relief. The poor boy. She wouldn't be able to bear it if he lost completely. He glanced up from the field, his face stained with grass and mud and God knows what else, and saluted to Kate and Laura. They quickly waved back. Laura bit her lower lip as she studied Kate. Something was definitely different about her. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't oozing lethargy.

"And what about the guys?"

"Huh?" Kate had been desperately trying to figure out what was going on. She'd never been one for major sports.

"In the lab? Guys? Potential life-partners?" Laura, even since the Rob incident, had always been on the lookout for someone that would be perfect for Kate. Kate, however, hadn't been too welcoming to this gesture. She frowned and quickly shook her head, not wanting to entertain the thought. Laura smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Course I'm sure. I told you, I'm not looking."

"And how many guys would fall over themselves to get to you?"

"Until they find out about that little person running around down there."

"Well, take him out of the equation-"

"No, absolutely not. He does _not_ ever get taken out of my equation, Laura." If there was one thing that really bugged Kate, it was this old plum of a conversation.

"I know that-"

"Well, if you knew it, Laura..." Kate frowned and glanced over at her sister. "Look, I'm sorry. Just, can we not, please?"Laura nodded. She knew she was going too far. Kate had always maintained that she wasn't ready. She'd been saying that for six years. Laura was sure that _now_ would be different.

Laura glanced over at her big sister; she admired how hard she tried to keep her life in order. Looking after Matthew whilst working crazy hours with a stressful job. "So, I was thinking maybe you could come out with me and Kevin sometime. See he has a friend..."

"Whoa, you are not seriously trying to set me up with another one of your boyfriend's friends again, are you?" Kate cut off her sister before she could even try to persuade her to agree with the absurd idea. She was most definitely not going there again, no way - not after James. What was she thinking?

"Oh, come on, Kate, he's sweet and you'd like him. Besides it would be nice to actually have a night out and God knows you need it" Laura was right; she hadn't been out for such a long time, but Kate really wasn't keen on the idea of being set up with someone 

she'd never even met before. Kate looked back over towards the soccer pitch; she didn't want Matthew thinking she wasn't interested. She wasn't really educated in the sports department but she tried her best to understand Matthew's interests. Laura let out a little laugh "Okay, now come on, Kate, you know I'm right. So whaddaya say, hmm?"

"No! Laura you said the last guy you tried to set me up with was 'sweet' and then look how that ended up!" Kate looked sternly at Laura, folding her arms just for added effect. "It's isn't happening."

"Oh, I see. Okay, so who is he?"

"What?" Kate laughed nervously, slightly confused at where this was going.

"You're seeing someone...how did _I_ not see it! So spill, where did you meet?" Laura completely averted herself away from the field while Kate's eyes were solely on Matthew.

Kate always reluctantly agreed to the little dates Laura arranged for her, always with a small hope that this time she might actually like the guy, but that never happened and so she told herself that enough was enough and she wasn't going to agree to it anymore; even if it meant that she'd stay a single mother forever. "Laura, slow down. No, I am _not _seeing anyone, I just don't really wanna go on a date with some random guy who I've never met before" Kate looked at her watch, she was getting rather uncomfortable, not just with where this conversation was going; the stands around the pitch weren't made for comfort. The whistle blew for half time, finally. "Okay, I'm gonna go get a soda, you want anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine, thanks. But hurry up, this conversation is far from over!" Laura shouted over to Kate.

**XOXOX**

The second half of the game passed quickly and somehow Kate managed to avoid continuing the conversation that she and Laura had been having. They made their way to meet Matthew after the match; the two of them had been stood beside Kate's car when he ran over to them "Hey mom, did you see my goal?"

"Yes I did, it was pretty great, huh-" Kate was cut off by the infernal noise of her cell phone ringing. All three looked down towards Kate's handbag with the same knowing look on their faces. She fumbled around to find it...aha! There it is.

Looking at the Caller ID, she groaned, and quickly pressed the little green phone. "This is Roberts." Laura sighed and rolled her eyes. Every time the three of them did anything - or tried to -Kate always got that same call, no matter what time it was. Ridiculous.

The soulful voice on the other end of the line confirmed what Kate already knew. "Miss Roberts, I need you to go and meet Eric. It looks like we've got a busy day."

Kate mentally sighed, heavily. "Yeah, sure thing, H, I'll be there asap." She closed her phone with disappointment. So it seemed things weren't going to change...well, not yet, anyway.

She crouched down beside her son. "Matty, I'm so sorry, baby, I've gotta go. But I'll make it up to you...tell you what, next time I have a day off we'll do something really nice, spend the whole day doing what you want to do."

He glanced up at her with the same look of sadness she had seen a million times before. "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise." Kate stood back up to speak to her sister. "I can't get out of this one, you okay to take Matthew?"

Laura held her hands up. "I know, it's your job. It's fine. Say, Matthew, how about you and me go get some ice cream?" She turned to the small boy with a very unenthusiastic expression.

Matthew's eyes quickly lit up. "Yeah! Come on, lets go."

Kate smiled at them. "Right, I've really gotta shoot. See you later- have a nice day and _don't _you go eating too much ice cream, Matty."

Matthew gave her a hug and laughed. "No I won't, bye, mom...and take it easy, okay?"

Kate widened her eyes and nodded. That boy worried too much for his own good. She looked at Laura, who only shrugged in response, and ruffled Matthew's hair. "Uh...I, yeah, I will. Definitely. Bye."

And just like that, as she had done so many times before, she turned on her heel and headed to her car. Someday soon, she _would_ have an uninterrupted day off.

**XOXOX**

Eric Delko looked up from the body of Aaron Giles to see Kate ducking under the crime scene tape and sauntering gently towards him. It was about damn time, too. He'd been kneeling down at the large, ornate pool, under the scorching sun, getting slightly frantic and annoyed for what seemed like forever. Boredom had begun to seep into his mind a while ago, even after he'd collected as much evidence as he could. And then Alexx had arrived, so at least he'd had someone to talk to. He stood up straight and began walking over to Kate. "You took your time. I've been waiting here for nearly an hour."

Kate arched her eyebrow, groaned and glared at him, all at once. It was impressive, really, and damned frightening. "Please, don't come at me with that crap, Eric."

He wasn't really expecting _that_ kind of reaction. _"_Well, _Kate_, it's just that H called you over an hour ago, and, it's not like you to take so long." He looked at her with a hint of concern in his eyes, tugging at his black shirt.

"Well, _Eric_, it's supposed to be my day off, and I kinda had plans of my own." She didn't mean to sound so annoyed. She couldn't seem to help it, though. "But I'm here now, so what have we got?"

Eric couldn't help but smile; he knew full well how that felt. The amount of times he'd had to take a rain check on things when was called in on his day off was unbelievable. "We've got Aaron Giles, 28. His sister found him face down in the pool with a gunshot wound in his back when she came home from school. Alexx is taking a closer look at him. Could you go see what she's got? I've gotta go swimming for a bullet."

Kate smiled and nodded. "Okay. Good luck." She swivelled round and began walking over to the pool. Alexx was crouched down next to the body, her white suit gleaming under the sun, almost blinding Kate. "Hello, Alexx. What have we got?"

Alexx glanced up and smiled broadly. "Hey, baby." She turned back to the body, her silky, dark hair flailing in the soft breeze. Kate was infuriatingly jealous of that hair. "Well, we've got a gunshot wound on the right shoulder blade, right in the middle of this tattoo."

Kate tilted her head to the side and bent down to examine said tattoo. "It's a target."

Alexx nodded. "And the killer shot the bullet right into the centre of it." She shook her head, disdainfully.

"Huh." Kate quickly snapped a photo of the victim and bit her lip. "Anything else?"

Alexx stuck her bottom lip out, contemplatively. "I'll know more when I get to the post."

"Okay." Kate snapped another few photos, documenting everything that came into contact with the vic.

"So, how do you like working the day shift?" Alexx Woods liked to know everything - she always had - about everyone on her team. Anyone new had to be interrogated to within an inch of their lives, and if they cracked, they were no good. But if they answered faithfully, fantastic. She was a good judge of character.

"Uh, well, it seems pretty good. The people are nice. But..." Kate trailed off, poking at the dials on her camera.

Alexx glanced up from her own kit. "But?"

Kate shrugged; glancing around to make sure Delko wasn't loitering over her shoulder. "It's my day off...I wanted to spend some time with my...son." Well, the cat was well and truly out of the bag by now.

This was news to Alexx. Her eyes suddenly grew ten times the size they had been. "You have a son?" An affirmative nod. "Congratulations. How old?"

"He's, ah, ten." Kate figured that, seeing as she had told Alexx about Matthew, she may as well tell her everything. Alexx's eyes softened. "His name's Matthew."

"I didn't know..."

"No one does." Kate felt awful for saying it. Why people _shouldn't_ know was starting to get to her. Alexx smiled, warmly. In the five minutes she'd known her, Kate was sure that she loved Alexx. There was a loving, warm, motherly feel from her. She didn't seem to judge, or argue. "I just, uh...didn't want to spring it on everyone." Kate let her camera hang loosely around her neck as she bent down to whisper. "Sorry."

Alexx adopted a contented expression. "Don't worry about it. Have you told anyone else?"

"No. Not yet." Kate sighed, heavily.

"You haven't told Ryan?" Alexx pried. Kate widened her eyes. How did Alexx know? Kate hadn't said anything...

"What? Why does Ryan have to do with anything?" She _had_ to know.

Alexx stood up, gesturing for her 'boys' to help her with the body. "Never mind, honey. I didn't say a thing." She held her finger up in protest and statement.

Before Kate could respond, two large men marched over to her and Alexx with a gurney, ready to hoist Aaron Giles onto it.

**XOXOX**

A few hours later, Kate breezed into the actual lab part of the lab in search of Natalia Boa Vista, the only member of the team that she hadn't ever spoken to before. Her heels clicked against the floor as her hair flailed around behind her. She _loved_ the lab in the daytime. There were people crowding in every corner of the place, talking and creating a heat that was inherently lacking at night. Everyone seemed to be civil to one another, not tetchy or frustrated. The sun shot in through the windows, illuminating everything with a golden air. For a strange reason, Kate felt all warm and fuzzy inside, too. And really she shouldn't. That talk with Alexx was downright odd. Her thoughts were interrupted as she opened the door to the lab. A heftily-tanned female with really thick, light brown hair and a really friendly smile.

"Natalia Boa Vista?" Kate leant against the table, questioning look on her face.

"Yeah." Natalia smiled, standing up from her work. Kate always loved her time as a lab rat, when she could sit down while she was on the clock and not get a written warning for it. "You must be Kate...uh, Richards?" She extended her hand out to Kate.

"Roberts." Kate took her hand and shook it, softly. Natalia nodded.

"I see. You left some blood in here earlier, didn't you?" She furrowed her eyebrows, flopping back down onto her chair.

Kate laughed. "Yes, blood, semen, urine and...I'm not really sure what the other stuff was. Was kinda thinkin' you'd be able to tell me." She ran a hand through her hair, amicably.

Natalia sighed - akin to if the weight of the world had been plonked onto her shoulders, which Kate wasn't really fond of -, and began rummaging round on her desk. Hundreds of sheets, it seemed, were shuffled around until Kate's results were found. "Okay-"

"Hey, Natalia, you got my results?" Ryan Wolfe walked into the room and ambled up to the table. He stood directly beside Kate, arms folded. He looked down at Kate with a smile. Knowing there was a set of eyes on top of her head, Kate quickly glanced up and returned said smile. Oh, man, he looked lovely. Bright pink shirt, black fitted blazer and really dark jeans. Gorgeous.

"Hi, Ryan. Yeah, I just found 'em. Might take me a minute to find them again, though..." Natalia grinned, her eyes fixated more on Ryan than on the results.

Ryan quickly looked up at her and nodded. "Yeah, that's okay, take your time." He shifted to face Kate, leaning on the table with his elbow. "So, Kate...I thought you were off today."

"So did I." Kate frowned. "But...it's all good. I'm just waiting on my results. Could I ask...pink?" She motioned to Ryan's shirt. He laughed and shook his head, _about_ to reply.

"Uh, results?" Until Natalia got in there first. Ryan nodded his head in a 'hold-that-thought' gesture toward Natalia.

"Yeah, pink, Blondie." He teased, idly shifting his weight onto his other foot. "You got a problem with it?"

Kate shook her head, subconsciously letting her tongue slide across her lower lip. "No...no, it's really quite...fantastic, but...you're a man."

"So? Only real men wear pink, Kate, didn't you know that?" His eyes danced along her face, and the rest of her body, softly and unabashedly admiring her, yet not being at all subtle about it. She was gorgeous. Kate could feel her face turning red. Natalia, meanwhile, was almost an unattractive shade of green, accentuating her raging jealousy.

"Do either of you _want_ your results, or would you rather I left the room?" Natalia stood up and raised both eyebrows being _just_ short of slamming her hands onto her hips. Kate and Ryan glanced at her, and frankly, she was terrifying. They both nodded and eventually grabbed hold of their results.

"...I've got victim blood. He's been held before, five months ago...on _cocaine_ possession. His sister bailed him out. Urine found traces of cannabis and that other stuff is a laxative. Hmm." Kate bit her lower lip. She glanced up at Ryan. "Yourself?"

"Nothing. My guy's clean. You sure you've got the right results?" Ryan glanced over her shoulder and had a sneaky look at her paper. They were, indeed, Kate's victim. "Then this can't be right. Natalia, are you sure you did this right?"

"What? Yes, Ryan, I did." This time, Natalia _did_ place her hands onto her hips, angrily. This whole thing was _horrible_. Natalia had been in the lab for nearly six months, and Ryan hadn't ever done as much as smile at her, yet Kate was only in the door for three minutes and he'd practically swept her off her feet. "You know what, if you want someone to do the job properly, next time, ask Valera." Before anyone could say anything, or try to calm her down, Natalia pulled her lab coat off, hung it over her chair and shot out through the door.

Ryan and Kate exchanged a confused glance. "What was that for?" Ryan turned round to see no trace of Natalia.

Kate shrugged and re-read her results. "Maybe you said something." She smiled and then looked up at him. "So I'll see you."

"Yeah. Bye." Ryan placed a warm hand on her back before he walked out of the door. Suddenly, Kate couldn't wait to finish her case.

**XOXOX**

**Nikki A/N:**** Hi peeps, just wanna thank you all for your lovely reviews and also thanks to everyone who's added it to their fave stories; Please, please keep reviewing. Both me and Mary are really excited about the next few chapters hopefully they will be going up soon!!**

**Mary A/N:**** Hi! Thanks to **_**everyone**_** that reviewed...me and Nikki love you all :D Now, Nikki wrote most of this chapter, and I love it! Please leave a wee review, if you can... :D Ooh, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter, too...very excited! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

A good few weeks later - after Kate had solved a _ton_ of cases, much to her joy - Kate and Ryan had gotten a lot closer, day by day. They ate their lunch together, worked nearly every case together, met up in the locker room after shift - by sheer coincidence, they would each insist - and flirted and bantered back and forth. And yes, there was major attraction to each other, too, that never went unnoticed by the rest of the lab. It seemed that every time they were in the same room as each other, nothing else really mattered. Eye contact, too, there was always tons of that. Yet...Kate still hadn't mentioned the fact that she was a mother, and had been for ten years. She sat in the break room, stirring and gazing into her coffee, thinking deeply about Ryan Wolfe...and Matthew. She wasn't putting off telling him - or them, seeing as Matthew knew nothing about Ryan, either -, she was just..._delaying_ it. She groaned, inwardly. Ryan was lovely, really. He was funny, smart, amazingly good conversation and, dare she think it, incredibly handsome. But Matthew. Matthew was a complete innocent in the whole situation. He'd never once asked about his father, where he was and she had no clue if he ever would. She also had no clue what he would make of Ryan.

She took a sip of her coffee. What did _she_ even make of Ryan? She sighed. It was hard _not_ to fall head over heels in love with him. Not that she was. She would never be in love. With anyone. But if she were, hypothetically...it would probably feel a lot like this; butterflies constantly milling about in her stomach, her head pounding away whenever they brushed against each other, her hands and legs trembling in an unforgiving manner. The whole thing was tragic, really. If she didn't tell Ryan about Matthew, they were doomed to forever be in a relationship of lies and deceit, which would never work and would only end in tears..._but_ if she told him...well, she could lose him forever. She frowned and sat back in the chair. Maybe she was thinking about the wrong thing entirely; maybe she and Ryan weren't as compatible as she hoped. Maybe she was basing the whole relationship on the basis that Ryan was her friend who happened to be very flirtatious and attractive and who seemed to enjoy looking her right in the eye for really, unbearably long periods of time. Her very, very..._very _best friend. Which, to tell the truth, she didn't have too many of. No. That settled it. She needed Ryan more as a friend than she did as a lover. Although, that would probably be very nice, too, no doubt about it. He had amazing hands. And a gorgeous smile. And his cologne...

"Kate? We've got a case...where's your pager?" Ryan leant against the doorframe, casually dressed in a pair of black slacks, a bright, eye-pokingly painful red shirt, tight-fitting blazer and a set of files in hand. Red suited him very well, Kate thought as she traced her finger along the rim of her cup.

She cleared her throat. "Uh, _my_...pager? It should be...around here..." She stood up and fumbled around in her back pocket. It wasn't there. "Ohh, yeah, I must've left it in my car. Sorry." She walked over to the sink and poured out the coffee, realizing that she hadn't even tasted any of it. She sauntered past Ryan and immediately began quizzing him. "So, where's our case?"

"It's...Marble Avenue."

"And the vic?"

"Francesca Kline. She's twenty-six, and about to get married to..." Ryan shuffled his papers around slightly, and Kate watched him with a stealthy eye and he furrowed his eyebrows. "Damon Flynn. He's an architect and she is a..." He raised his eyebrows, as if he'd stumbled upon a giant crate of treasure. "...an heiress. Oh."

"Aha...and tell me, Damon Flynn wouldn't happen to work at McCain and McAteer's now, would he?" Kate's arm brushed against Ryan's as she sauntered along at the same pace as him. He didn't seem to notice...

But he did look up at Kate with that same surprised revelation-finding expression. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Cause, Mr Wolfe, I am a genius." Kate smiled, her heels clicking noisily against the tacky floor of the MDPD. If she had her way, the whole place would have wooden floors, or carpets. The interrogation room definitely needed a re-haul. Ryan smiled and glanced back down at the files. "Say, Ryan...could I talk to you sometime?"

"Yeah, sure, you can talk to me in the car." Men! Why were they always so hopeless?

"No, I mean, it's kind of important. Well, no, probably not life-or-death important, but it's been really bugging me and I just have to get it off my chest."

Ryan gave up on the files and stared at Kate. _Now_ he was concerned. "Well, come on. What is it?"

Kate glanced around. "Not...I can't tell you in here."

Ryan took his chance to look around the place, surveying all the people swarming around. He liked Kate - a lot, in fact -, and she was obviously upset about something. "Why?"

"Because..." 'Ryan, I have a son' wasn't that big a sentence, but it was damn-well difficult to get out in the open. "Because I can't work this 

Thursday. I need the day off and I was hoping you could do my shift...please." What a lemon.

Ryan smiled, broadly. "That was it? No...complaints? No spleen-vents?"

Kate shook her head. "No, I guess not. Must've been a bigger deal to me than it actually was."

"And that...that's all that was on your chest?" He couldn't help but glance down at said chest, covered by a light green, sleeveless shirt, round-neck, with tiny diamond-like buttons on it. It was nice. Her hair fell messily across her shoulders as she bit down onto her lower lip. She smiled, blankly.

"Yeah. Sure." She looked at the floor and then back up, rubbing her neck. "Shouldn't we get going, right about now?"

Ryan nodded, hesitant. He was positive that Kate wanted to talk to him about something else, but...all would probably be revealed.

Eventually.

**XOXOX**

At the scene, Kate and Ryan were stood over the body, with a severe frown on their faces. The victim had been taken back to the lab for Alexx to check out. Blunt force trauma was most likely, she said, leaving Ryan and Kate to get on with their work. Francesca's face appeared to be bashed in, but with what? Kate glanced around the room, hands on her hips. Subconsciously, she glanced at Ryan with a light smile, then back to the mantelpiece across the room. The house itself - considering that the victim was a fairly wealthy heiress - , was tiny. The kitchen was poky and the bathroom was practically a sink and a toilet with a bath/shower plonked taking up half of the space, and then the sitting room seemed to be a small house in itself. It was painted a strange shade of red, with little purple lines here and there. Frankly, Kate really didn't care much for it, but, as Laura once said, whatever floats their boat...

Kate sighed. "Ryan, I'm not..._seeing_ any murder weapon. Anything in here is either too big and heavy, or...it would have to be joined to the wall. Which wouldn't be any good, at all..." The room was filled with ornate, hideous lamps, giant crystal things that showed no signs of being used in a murderous way. And a massive television.

Ryan frowned and folded his arms, indignantly. "Well...maybe the killer tossed it." He was peeved about having to work on his day off, so he didn't feel like being completely helpful. Except with Kate. He was always nice to her.

"Maybe, so." She frowned and stepped over beside him, ten million thoughts quickly running through her mind. She had always been the top of her game, and she liked to get things done quickly, thoroughly and before anyone else...this was no exception. The deep, black carpet - which must've been a Devil to keep clean, Ryan thought - had been messed with, judging by the complete shambolic placement of it. Completely the wrong angle. "Did you look under the sofa, Mr Wolfe?" She asked, her voice a lot softer than it generally was.

Ryan arched his eyebrow at her, incredulous. He hadn't thought on it. This woman was a genius. He smiled, defeatedly, and bent down to pick the end of the sofa up. There, directly under the couch, was a crystal Christmas tree. "Oh...how did you-"

"The carpet. Somebody must've tripped up over it..." Kate knelt down next to Ryan and pulled the tree out - using her two hands - from under the large, green monstrosity. Nothing in this room seemed to be colour coordinated, for some reason. "I hate when that happens."

Ryan smiled at her, gently placing the sofa back down on the ground. "You're not so clumsy."

"Oh, no, I am. I could trip up in an empty room." She frowned at the tree in her hands. "How are we gonna get this back to the lab?"

"Evidence bag, Kate." He stated, nonchalantly. Kate raised both eyebrows as she studied both the bag in her kit, and the tree in front of her.

"But it'll break...those bags aren't very good, you know."

"Oh...alright, okay, how about-"

Before Ryan could continue, the door seemed to burst open, revealing two very large, scary men in those ominous...worryingly familiar- oh, good lord, that was a bio-hazard suit! Kate and Ryan quickly glanced at each other, two very worried expressions on their faces. Within seconds, the two men had grabbed hold of Kate and Ryan's arms, pulling them outside. "This is a bio-hazard situation, you need to be contaminated immediately."

Kate opened her mouth in shock, words not coming easily. "What- wait, hold on a second, we've got evidence-sorry, but, you have to hold off till we get"

"Ma'am, we can't hold off. It's a serious-"

"It can't be that serious-" Ryan started, but was promptly pushed into a large blue tent, effectively shutting him up.

"Sir, we need to you strip, Ma'am, you too." Hazmat man number one was persistent, Kate would give him that.

Ryan and Kate both widened their eyes and shook their heads. "No, no, sorry, but we can't-"

Mr. Hazmat shook his head, heaving a sigh of pure annoyance. He was probably used to treatment like this. "Alright, your ME found a dangerous substance on the body, so we were called in to decontaminate everything and you _need_ to remove your clothes and step into that shower. _Now_."

Whatever it was that Mr. Hazmat said, or maybe _how_ he said it, it certainly worked; within seconds, every single item of clothing had been removed - socks, underwear, the works... - and flung into a basket, sealed by one man and given to another to do God knows what with. As soon as they were under the cold, violently-large shower-head, the two men in suits came up and insisted that they turn. They did, reluctantly glancing up at each other.

And that was where the trouble started.

Ryan, of course, being a complete gentleman, didn't want to be obvious about looking...but his eyes just seemed to follow the natural curve of her back, and her legs, and her neck, strangely enough. He got to see it every day, so why now was he so intrigued?

"Turn." Hazmat man number two grabbed Kate's arm and turned her again. Obviously _she_ wasn't going fast enough for him.

Pervert. He was probably only gawking at her, anyway. Too shocked to say anything, Kate looked up at Ryan and forced a smile. Thankfully, he didn't seem to stare. Kate glanced down at herself and swallowed. At least if he _was_ looking, he'd have nothing _bad_ to say about her. She was fit, well-enough-endowed in the chest area and her legs were long. The tan on her back was oddly placed from her bra-straps, and the rest of her was fairly white, and there were quite a few scars from falling off of things when she was younger...not to mention stretch marks and the caesarean scar. Oh, God, this was bad...yet, she found herself looking up again. There was a small formation of ink on Ryan's shoulder that she hadn't ever seen...oh, he was _perfect_.

This was, undeniably, irrevocably _bad_.

**XOXOX**

Kate marched over to the counter, covered with clothes, really big ones, at that, and glared at them with severe disdain. There were towels next to them, but that would involve extended nudity, and she didn't want to 

have to stand in the same room as Ryan Wolfe, completely naked, for longer than she had to. So she wrapped a towel around herself and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She could definitely hear Ryan behind her, but she couldn't bring herself to look. Not that she was repulsed, or anything - quite the opposite... -, but the situation was more than a little embarrassing.

"Hey. Ah, Kate...are you okay?" Ryan just _had_ to come and stand beside her, didn't he? Immediately, she tensed up and nodded, sharply.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm great...just..._great_." She pulled a pair of loose, sweat-pants out of the pile and shook them out one-handedly, all the time excruciatingly aware that she was only wearing a very short towel that wasn't held on properly. Ryan didn't seem to mind. Unwilling to help it, she eventually caved into the stubborn - and curious - voice in her head and glanced up at him. Thank God, he was fully clothed. "Are you?" Her hand was shaking, her words were coming out noisily, klunkily and her heart was beating rapidly. Never mind embarrassing, this was exhilarating.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good." Ryan cocked his head to the side. His eyes were firmly fixed on the large pile of clothes in front of himself and Kate. His day had been _confusing_, to say the least. Good, bad, plunged into the depths of misery and, now, sweet Jesus, Kate wasn't wearing a bra. He quickly averted his eyes, half of his brain telling him that he was a gentleman, not a pervert. The other half, however...the _dirty _half, was not for being told. He glanced back at her, head tilted to the side, watching as she rifled through the rest of the pile, finally pulling out a giant white tee-shirt. The Haz-mat men obviously had no sense for fashion. Kate began gnawing on her lip, rubbing her leg against the other one, causing all sorts of really bad thoughts to run through Ryan's mind. She, however, was too busy being glad that she'd shaved her legs. She was even more glad about the fact that Ryan wasn't gawking. Or at least, he wasn't being obvious about gawking. "So...Haz-mat, huh? Don't see them everyday." He chuckled, softly, determined to get Kate to smile, or at the very least, look at him again. But nothing. She was still sorting through all the clothes. "Hey, Kate? Listen, I don't want there to be any awkwardness-"

"What?" Kate laughed, wryly. "I'm not awkward. I don't see why you should be, either. It's not like I've got anything you haven't seen before." Her ears were bright red, her voice was unlike itself and her heart was beating far too fast to be healthy. Her towel drooped down across her back, slightly, showing off far more flesh than she would've liked. Ryan cocked his head to the side, sympathetically, whilst also reminding his eyes not to wander.

He moved closer to her, leaning down to smile at her. And speak. In a really low, deep, husky manner. "If it helps, I didn't look." Well, if that wasn't just the straw that broke the camel's back; Kate's cheeks flushed bright red to match her ears, her legs almost gave way beneath her and her hands began to tremble. Oh, God, she was gonna die, probably of embarrassment and shame.

She swallowed and glanced up at him, trying to hold his eye-contact with him for as long as possible. She finally cracked a large smile. If she couldn't beat him, she might as well join him. "Liar. Of course you looked. Even _I _looked." She turned round to face him and grinned, wildly.

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "You're bluffing."

"Oh, am I?" She laughed, coyly. "So, what's with that tattoo on your shoulder?"

Ryan laughed and shook his head. _No one_ had seen that tattoo, much less asked about it. "Well, I could ask you the same thing." Uh-oh.

Kate arched her eyebrow. "You saw that? Then you definitely looked. But can you tell me what it is?" Her stomach lurched, harshly as Ryan smiled, cockily. He looked, she was sure of it.

Oh, he saw it alright, amongst a few other very, _very_ curious things. It was a medium-sized crescent moon, a few tiny stars arranged beautifully next to it. On the small of her back. He's caught the smallest of glimpses at it when Hazmat-man number one spun him round. He couldn't have helped it- even if his eyes had been stapled shut, he would've known. He stepped even closer - how was it at all possible? -, placed one hand on her barely-covered waist and turned her round slightly, getting a better view of the tattoo. Kate tensed up at his touch and glanced down at the clothes in her hand. She had terrible mental images of her towel dropping to the ground from many different perspectives. "It's a moon...it's nice." He released his very soft grip on her side and sighed, eyes trying to focus on something else. Kate bit her lip, towel completely secure.

"Do you wanna go out with me? I mean, tomorrow?" Kate glanced up at him, nervously gnawing on her lower lip. The corners of Ryan's mouth tugged Heavenward as he leant against the counter. "Or whenever, I mean, no pressure-"

"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow's great." He said, as if it wasn't a massive thing that the two of them had wanted - no, _needed_ - desperately, since they'd started working together.

"Fantastic. Could you turn round, please? Just for a second?" Kate grinned to herself, more than to Ryan. As he turned round, the realization dawned on her that Ryan said yes.

Ryan said yes, to her, to going out with _her_. And suddenly, this day couldn't have gotten any better.

**XOXOX**

Kate sauntered into her house, closed the door behind her, locked and dashed her keys down on the writing table, almost wondering if she was _too_ happy, but quickly decided there was no such thing. On her way home, she'd turned her radio up to its full power, sang until her lungs began to ache and even had a tiny dance to herself on the doorstep. She sauntered into the sitting room to find Matthew and Laura at the table, playing scrabble or some such thing. Kate grinned and placed her hands on her hips. Matthew glanced up and grinned with a wave before he began rearranging the letters in front of him.

"Hello, Kate. Nice of you to show up." Laura wasn't happy. She'd been in the middle of the cinema, happily watching a movie when her phone rang. Kate would be majorly late - and she was, as she promised, majorly late, Laura noted - and could she please come and look after Matthew? Not that Laura disliked - God forbid - looking after Matthew, or even resented it. But now and again, she felt that she needed some personal time.

Kate kicked her shoes off and sauntered further into the room. "Yeah, I know...I'm sorry. I got...held up." She glanced pointedly at Matthew and then back at Laura. Laura nodded. She understood that look. It was the one that meant they were not at liberty to discuss the day's goings on in front of the minor. "So...how are we?"

"Great! I won twice. Aunt Laura's not really good with words." Matthew bobbed himself from side to side, victoriously. Laura folded her arms.

Kate chuckled. "Yeah, I always beat her, too, Matty." She walked over to him and flopped down, Indian style on the floor. She leant over to check on Matthew. "Wow. Those are some huge words. I'll bet your Auntie Laura doesn't even know what half of them mean." Of course, this only resulted in Kate being hit on the arm by the letter 'O'. She smiled. "Very mature, Laura..."

"How was work, Mom?" Matthew gave up on his huge words for the moment, slightly more interested by his mother's profession. As a boy, it came naturally to him that he liked policemen, fast cars and guns. Kate had only ever told him about the car chases, the onetime she'd ever held her gun up to anyone and of course about her fellow CSIs. Well. Horatio and Frank, really. Those two were like a double act.

"It was...interesting. But I'll tell you about it later."

"You solve any crimes?" Matthew _loved_ detective shows. He and Laura had been watching too many of them, recently. Kojak, he liked Kojak.

"Uh...not, not quite yet, no. But we're getting there." Kate smiled. "How was school?"

"It was okay. I got an A+ in English." He smiled, brightly. He adored English. Kate had always read him a _lot_ of books. "And in science." He liked science, too, but only for the sake of explosions.

"Fantastic!" Kate grinned. "And in Math?"

Matthew looked down at his hands, crestfallen. He hated math. And it wasn't even his fault. It was the teacher. She was a scary, scary lady with a very pointy nail file. "B+."

"Well. B+ is fine. It's better than a C, right, Laura?" Kate glanced up at her sister. Laura nodded. They chatted amongst each other for another half an hour or so before Kate noticed just how late it was. "Whoa, you...teeth, pyjamas, bed." She stood up and groaned. Matthew stifled a groan. "I know, I know, I'm evil, but I'm your Mom. I _have _to nag." She gave him a sympathetic look and folded her arms. Matthew bounded up and ambled out into the bathroom. The Scrabble was in no hurry to be put away, so Kate just flopped down onto the sofa, sighing merrily.

Laura frowned. Something was..._off_. Not wrong, it was something good. Something that made Kate relaxed, happy...weird. "What's going on? I smell...happiness."

At this, Kate _had_ to laugh. "You make that sound like a bad thing."

"Well, with you, I've never seen you so chirpy. It's strange for me... a new experience, if you will. So, what's up?" Laura perched herself on the table in front of Kate. Kate grinned, foolishly, twirling a strand of sparkling blonde hair around her index finger.

"Well...we went to this scene today-"

"We?"

"Me and Ryan."

"Oh."

"Mm. Anyway, we processed the place and we were _just _about to go back to the lab, and then these guys in decontamination suits burst into the 

house and pulled us into this huge shower." The way Kate explained it made it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but the fact that Laura's jaw had hit the ground made it into something else entirely.

"You mean...you had a shower..." Laura widened her eyes, hanging on the edge of her seat. Kate squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately not to re-call the day's events, but it wasn't working.

A smile crossed her face as the memory of Ryan investigating her tattoo came back with a vengeance. "With Ryan Wolfe, and then _I _asked _him_ out, and he said _yes _and I can't _stop _smiling." Kate sighed, heavily. Laura laughed.

"Is it love?" Laura, at heart, was a hopeless romantic. She wanted nothing more than to see Kate married with another fifteen-odd kids.

"No, it's just...its two _friends_, going out..." She sighed once more, examining her hand. "But..."

"No. No, Katie, no buts. You _need_ this." Laura had a particular way of making the worst possible thing sound like a dream come true, or occasionally it backfired and sounded like a chore. This was not one of those times. Not that being with Ryan was the worst possible thing, but who knew how it could end. She did _not_ want another repeat of Rob.

Kate frowned. "I know, I need it...but what if it all goes horribly wrong?"

Laura grinned. "What if it doesn't? You _must_ take that risk, Kate. Before it passes you by." She loved cheesy films, too, so Kate decided that she'd stolen that one.

Kate rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm going to bed now. You can stay here if you want." She stood up and ambled out into the hall. Laura smiled and shook her head, moving herself onto the large, cosy sofa. Sometimes Kate just needed that extra shove in the right direction.

And from what Laura had heard, Ryan Wolfe _was_ that right direction.

**XOXOX**

**Nikki A/N:**** Hey everyone, thank you sooooo much for all the reviews. Hope you all enjoy the chapter, I love it think it's my fave so far!! Please review, we really do love reading what y'all have to say. :D**

**Mary A/N:**** Squee! Thanks SO much for all the reviews...they truly make us uberly happy :D I love this chapter...I really do. I mean, the last chapter had to be my ultimate favourite so far, but this is ****slowly creeping up there, just cause of the idea of it. Ahem, now...please review :D You know you want to just press that wee button, so please do!! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight:**

Kate smiled to herself as she opened up her locker. It was the end of her shift and, it seemed to be happening a lot lately, she was unashamedly happy. Calleigh and Eric had taken over hers and Ryan's last case after the shower incident, which meant that she and Ryan had a chance to finish off some of that evil paperwork that seemed to lurk around every corner. She hated being hunched over a table, not really speaking to the person opposite her and almost developing carpal-tunnel syndrome. Of course, with Ryan, that hadn't happened; they'd spent half an hour discussing chocolate bars, TV shows and several other things of their youth whilst not writing anything down. No writing, no pained hand. Fantastic. Kate quickly pulled her jacket off its hanger and shrugged it on over her white tee-shirt. A picture of herself, Laura and Matthew clung to inside of her locker door. It had been taken seven months ago, just after Laura's birthday. Her locker was fairly empty, in comparison with some others; Eric Delko had over five different shirts, Calleigh had three very elaborate-looking bottles of perfume, Natalia Boa Vista had a box that she occasionally glanced into with a slight smile before slamming her locker door shut. She hadn't ever managed to sneak a look into Ryan's locker, but, from a distance, it was impeccably neat. He had told her about his 'slight OCD', probably thinking that she was going to judge him and condemn him. At least, that was what his expression told her. Instead, she shrugged and told him that she figured.

"Hey, Kate." Calleigh Duquesne breezed into the locker room with that certain charm that floated around her constantly. "You finished up? Already?"

"Yeah, uh, me and Ryan were just working on some paperwork. We decided we'd call it a day." She decided that she wouldn't mention their extra-curricular activities later on in the evening. She'd been told when she first started that relationships in such a team-focused workplace were frowned upon, a lot. "How are you?"

"Oh, fine. Looking forward to a night in on my own. With my cat."

"You've got a cat?" This was news to Kate.

"Mmhm." Calleigh nodded and pried her locker open. "Rambo_. _He's brown, scabby, doesn't like men, but he seems to enjoy sleeping on my bed, and he's clean." Calleigh was fun and nice, had a tendency to ramble once in a while, but on the whole she was very much in control, and the MDPD was _her_ territory. Kate had no plans to step on her toes anytime soon. "You got any plans?"

Kate smiled, her eyes fixated on the ground under her feet. "Oh, well, actually...yes. I think I'm going out for dinner-"

Calleigh shut her locker and was about to listen eagerly as Kate delved into every detail of her 'plans', until...

"With _who?_"

Kate and Calleigh turned round to see a curious and slightly smug Jake Berkeley loitering in the doorway, a white shirt stretching over his torso, tight-fitting dark jeans and a _ton_ of hair gel, slicking it down and adding to his distinct, ruggedly villainous appearance. Oh, would he never just quit, give in and let Kate be? "Hello, Jake." Calleigh was trying to sound disinterested, but Kate could see through it.

"Hey, Cal." He nodded once in Calleigh's direction, but quickly averted his eyes toward Kate. "So, who'd you say you're going out with, Kate?"

Calleigh rolled her eyes. "She didn't. Leave her alone, Jake." As much as Calleigh liked him, Jake could be a sincere nuisance. She walked up to him, folded her arms and gave him her best glare, and all she got for a reply was a wink. Disgusting.

"I'm just curious." He shrugged. "And she hasn't answered, so it must be good."

Kate smiled mysteriously as she waltzed towards Calleigh and Jake. "Actually, he is. He's very good. He's funny, smart, sharply dressed, and tall with a quick wit and a smile that just doesn't quit..." Her smile grew as she watched the annoyance flicker into Jake's eyes. Calleigh remained calm as ever. "It's not really a date, though. It's more of a casual meeting between two friends. He likes me; I like him, that's it."

"Oh." Jake's smile _almost_ faltered. _Almost_. He glanced down at Calleigh and managed to snake his arm around her shoulders. "Who could ask for anything more?"

Calleigh nudged him away from her and shook her head again, this time with a grin. "Alright, you, come on." She took him by the arm and began pulling him out of the locker room. "Enjoy yourself, Kate. Take care, and don't let the guy push you around."

"Yes, Kate. And don't do anything I wouldn't do." Jake added, just because he could. It always amazed Kate how he had to always have the last word.

Well, not this time. "Thanks, Jake, that widens my spectrum, now, doesn't it." It was a statement not to be messed with. Before Jake could say anything else, Calleigh was walking him down the corridor and out the door with the strange thought that Jake, unlike Rambo the cat, could - and _would_ - never be tamed.

**XOX**

**Nikki A/N: Hi peeps!!!!! First off I am sooooooo sorry for neglecting all of you wonderful readers and taking so long to update, and also I must apologise for this being such a short chapter. Things should get back on track now with more regular updates. I must also thank everyone for their reviews and for adding this to their faves!! X**

**Mary A/N: Hi! Okay, as I'm sure Nikki has already said, we are supremely, uberly, **_**beyond**_** sorry for not updating sooner - and, conversely, for this chapter being so short and not having any Ryan in it...we're evil, we know! - , but our Muse just seemed to have taken a perma-holiday, lol! Anyway, we think we have him captured for a wee while, so we'll definitely update a lot sooner this time. Please leave us a wee review if you want to. Huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far :D **


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